If it can happen, it probably has happened in this race. Boats have sunk. Boats have collided. There is the infamous race in Seattle in 1914 where races were started at both ends of the three-mile course and the crews barreled through each other midway. Steering has been lost, launches with coaches have collided and sunk midrace, rowers have been ejected, athletes have collapsed, and logs, buoys, and bridge abutments have been struck. And the racing… races have come down to the wire so many times it would be difficult to recount them all.

Intertwined in this tradition are the legendary coaches. Ky Ebright was a coxswain at Washington under Hiram Conibear in 1916, then coached at Washington under Ed Leader, but left for Cal to keep that program alive after the WWI post-war culture cast a pall on intercollegiate sports in the early 20’s (Stanford’s highly successful rowing program was cancelled then and would not resurface for close to 30 years). His success at Cal (including Olympic gold in 1928, 1932 and 1948) established their program as the powerhouse they remain today.

For decades it was Ebright vs. Ulbrickson, two heavyweights battling it out on the national stage (and sometimes with global implications). Then came the Erickson and Gladstone years, two visionary coaches, both with a passion for international competition; then on to Bob Ernst… and Gladstone back at Cal for round two. For much of the latest century it was Michael Callahan and Mike Teti – two of the sport’s coaching titans – battling it out, with Scott Frandsen now at Cal producing some of the finest teams in their history. On the women’s side, it was Ernst who brought the first women’s V8 win to Washington in the Dual in 1981, then Jan Harville producing championship crews in the 90’s and into the new millennium at Washington, while Dave O’Neill re-built the women’s team at Cal into a premier program. Most recently it has been Yaz Farooq at Washington (NCAA titles at UW 2017, 2019) and Al Acosta (NCAA titles 2016, 2018) at Cal, two of the very best women’s rowing coaches in the world.

With the Pac-12 dissolving in 2024, Cal and Washington went separate ways, Cal to the ACC, and Washington into the Big 10. But even so, do not expect this rivalry to wane; the connection between these two programs runs too deep, the history and tradition too strong. “The Dual really stands alone. You can’t go in it into it with any expectations because you know that both teams are going to bring their very best,” said UW women’s head coach Yaz Farooq. “This is the race of the year,” UW men’s rowing head coach Michael Callahan has said. “Everyone understands rivalries. This is a high-pressure situation and these races tend to go the distance. We like that challenge.”