Defending champions Oxford won the 152nd University Boat Race against Cambridge here on Sunday.
Oxford, led by Canadian Olympic oarsman Barney Williams and with Bastien Ripoll, the first Frenchman to row in the event for more than 150 years at stroke, got off to a fast start — thought to be Cambridge’s strength.
They took an early half-a-length lead, largely neutralised the initial advantage Cambridge had from the Middlesex side of the approximately 6,7km River Thames course and won in an unofficial time of 18 minutes 24 seconds.
The Dark Blues began to come into their own when the Surrey bend began to favour them while, in choppy conditions, the Light Blue Cambridge crew saw their boat start to take on water as their rivals moved further ahead.
Oxford have now won four of the last five races but Cambridge still lead the series 78-73 with one dead heat. — Sapa-AFP