Considerable difficulty was experienced in fixing a date for the race this year.

Easter was early, some of the examinations interfered and to cap it all the tides were at inappropriate times on the potential dates. Eventually it was agreed that it should be rowed at 8.15 am in a very slack tide on Saturday March 23rd.

For this race, Oxford decided to use their 1859 boat, which had been built by Matt was 3 feet 6 inches longer than that of their rivals and distinctly longer than most boats of that period.

There was a brisk southerly wind, but Oxford winning the toss, chose Middlesex, which was thought by many to be a bad choice. There was a false tart, the first time, but at the second attempt at 8.28 am, the two crews were set off safely.

The Dark Blues were headed by a few feet off the first few strokes, but rowing well, Oxford moved through them and all the way round the Fulham bend, which was in their favour, they moved further ahead of the Light Blues, until by the time that they reached the Crab Tree it appeared that they were far enough ahead to be in a winning position (the exact distance is not defined).

Then Cambridge made a determined push, drew alongside and then moved into the lead by a few feet and it was in this state that the two crews shot Hammersmith Bridge, effectively side by side. The ding-dong battle continued all the way round the crest of the Surrey bend, along Chiswick Reach and past the Eyot, with first one crew and then the other putting in a spurt and thereby taking the lead only to lose it again. The crews were still level at Chiswick Church.

When they came into Corney Reach, where the wind over the tide was making the water distinctly lumpy, Cambridge had moved ahead by some three or four feet. Now Hall the Cambridge stroke settled the Cambridge crew into a good rhythm with long firm sweeping strokes and they moved through the disturbed water much better than their rivals, despite some Dark Blue pushes, shooting Barnes Bridge ‘several yards’ to the good.

Oxford continued their spirited fight putting in several more spurts along the final reach, but to no avail for Cambridge rowed in to win by 1 length, in 26 minutes 5 seconds, in one of the closest races encountered to that time.

This was to be the only race that Cambridge won during the 1860s, by the middle of which decade Oxford had moved into the overall lead, a situation which was to persist for some 70 years.