Cambridge: Beaten In Boat Race

31 March 2013, 19:22 | Updated: 31 March 2013, 19:27

Cambridge have been beaten by Oxford in the 159th boat race on London's River Thames.

The Dark Blues (Oxford), who won the toss and opted for the Surrey station, made a strong start and broke ahead of a spirited Light Blues (Cambridge) effort just as the river turned towards the finish at Barnes Bridge.

Twelve months ago, Oxford felt aggrieved and angry after they had lost one of the most dramatic and controversial Boat Races in history.

Today (Sunday), the race was clean and tightly fought with no swimming protesters or broken oars.

However both crews were warned for overlapping oars by the umpire Sir Matthew Pinsent - a four-time Olympic champion and two-time Boat Race winner with Oxford.

Cambridge University Boat Club member Will Dawkins hailed the race as a 'titanic struggle' which promotes the values of good sportsmanship.

He said: "Both crews showed a lot of courage and fought really hard and rode really well in quite fast conditions."