Although his crew are favourites, Oxford University coach, Sean Bowden, is taking nothing for granted when they take on Cambridge in the 156th Varisty Boat Race on Saturday (4.30pm), writes Mike Rosewell.

Bowden, who has won seven of the last ten races, has become renowned for mixing athletes from different international rowing backgrounds into cohesive Oxford Boat Race crews.

This year he has three Eng-lishmen and six other nationalities involved, including his only returning Blue, Dutchman Sjoerd Hamburger, who is his president.

Bowden’s Cambridge opposite number, Chris Nilsson, a Kiwi who coached in the Oxford squad in the past, has a line-up including four English and five overseas performers.

Pre-race indicators have been scarcer than usual.

In private fixtures, Oxford ach-ieved a narrow victory over Leander and Cambridge lost twice in half-course pieces to Molesey, but not by a lot.

They also beat a Czech Federation crew. Both the Oxford race with Leander and the Cam-bridge battle with the Czechs were marred by clashes.

For Boat Race pointers, then, all eyes were on the Head of the River Race last Saturday to see if that form would be franked. Molesey were first, three seconds over Leander, with the Czechs third.

Just to add to the indecision though, Molesey were said to have “come on” a lot since their wins over Cambridge, Leander had a mid race ‘crab’ and, clearly, the Czech crew would have improved after acclimatising to water the Tideway.

So, it is one of those years when you pay your money and take your choice.

I have been reporting on the Boat Race since 1962 and have never put on a bet. There are too many unknowns – conditions of wind and water, who wins the toss, and who has the nerve and experience for 4¼ miles of agony.

Only one of the Oxford crew has experienced the scenario before.

Three from Cambridge have been through the mill, and will try to stop Oxford winning for the fifth time in six years.

At the weigh-in, nearly a month ago when Cambridge were marginally heavier, Nilsson said: “It’s going to be a good crew with a combination of some international experience and exciting new talent.”

Since then he has made some crew re-arranging.

Bowden told me this week: “It seems like being close, but it shows that we are in with a chance. We don’t want to get carried away and we must get our heads down and get on with it”.

He seldom gets carried away, but, if I did bet, my money would be on his crew on Saturday.

Cambridge lead the series that began in 1829 with 79 wins to Oxford’s 75, with one Race declared a dead-heat in 1877. The Race will be screened live on BBC 1 television.