Oxford lost the 153rd Boat Race - or perhaps, to be kinder to them - Cambridge won it.

Cambridge were hot favourites - stronger, bigger with better pedigree - but nobody seemed to have told Oxford this.

After winning the toss and choosing Surrey, the Dark Blues powered into an early lead and held it, narrowly, to Hammersmith Bridge where warnings from the umpire - former Oxford Blue Peter Bridge - caused Cambridge to lose some ground in steering to Middlesex.

But Oxford's move, in steering to Surrey, put them somewhat off the stream.

Oxford, though, stretched their advantage to nearly a length after St Paul's, but Cambridge then hit a rhythm along Chiswick Eyot which was rather special, and they took the lead at Chiswick Steps.

With the rest of the bends in their favour, they went on to win, but only by three seconds, which was testament to Oxford's spirit.

"We weren't quite there for the showdown in the end", said coach Sean Bowden.

But his crew were still fighting and even drawing back slightly in the last minute, bringing the admission from Thorsten Engelmann, Cambridge's German world champion stroke: "I was so tired I didn't care whether we won by one length, half a length or three lengths."

Many were generous in their praise of Oxford, including the Cambridge coach, Duncan Holland. "The outcome was in doubt for a long, long, way. I rate Oxford - they are the second best rowing club in the world", he said.

Oxford's assistant coach Derek Clark said: "If you look back to pre-Christmas events, we shouldn't have been anywhere near the Cambridge boat."