The cup was placed in competition by Mrs. Edward Cochrane in 1961 for heavyweight races among Dartmouth, MIT and Wisconsin. The cup is named after Admiral Edward L. Cochrane, former president of M.I.T., and director of the Navy's Bureau of Ships. After one race of one mile (1961), one of 1.75 miles (1962) and another of two miles (1963), the cup has been raced on a 2000-meter course ever since.