Oxford took victory in today’s Boat Race, by the biggest winning margin since 1973. Led by captain Steve Dudek, Cambridge faced an experienced Dark Blues crew seeking to follow up on Oxford’s 2013 win. The story of the day was the near-unseating of Cambridge’s Luke Juckett, who lost control of his oar in what appeared to be a collision between the two crews. An appeal from Cambridge for foul contact by Oxford was dismissed by the umpire.

With Oxford winning the toss and selecting Surrey Station, the race was always likely to be tough for the Light Blues. Surrey Station – the southernmost rowing position, as opposed to the northerly Middlesex Station – gives its crew the inside line for the long middle bend of the Championship Course. Cambridge aimed for, and achieved, a strong start, and were ahead as the crews passed Fulham’s Craven Cottage football ground. Oxford however rallied and established a slim lead by the time the mile post was reached at 3 minutes 47 seconds.

It was around the five minute mark that disaster struck for Cambridge. No. 2 seat Juckett dug in an oar and was almost ejected from the boat, appearing to lose as many as seven or eight strokes before recovering his stroke.  The incident happened at a time when the  boats were especially close together on a choppy Thames, inevitably raising the suggestion of a clash of oars. Umpire Richard Phelps acknowledged after the race that there may well have been a collision, stating “the contact was slight, but the impact was great”. Phelps dismissed Cambridge’s appeal, stating that Oxford were on their station and that Cambridge had been warned shortly before the incident. Phelps hinted that April’s windy conditions often made for difficult steering: “if you want a clean, easy boat race, do it in July”.

Oxford’s eventual margin of victory, at 11 lengths, indicates that whatever the psychological impact, Juckett’s ill fortune was not the only contributory factor in the Light Blues’ defeat. Oxford maintained an edge in pace until the end of the race. Despite the disappointment, Cambridge Captain Steve Dudek was defiantly proud of his crew. “It's a very frustrating way to lose but, as a group of men, I couldn't be happier with the way they handled today” he told the press. “This is a phenomenal group of men and the only thing I would change is the result”. Juckett himself was disappointed but philosophical, saying “we trained all year and that [the unseating incident] is a possibility in the Boat Race. It caught me in the chest, and it happens in a split second. That definitely didn't help but we keep our heads up high and move on." Celebrating the Dark Blues’ second successive win, Oxford stroke and Team GB member, Constantine Louladis, was succinct: “We had a plan and we stuck to it. I think we showed that with the distance that we had control of the race”.