By all accounts this was a very good Oxford crew, probably the best that had been seen to date, though there was considerable, probably partisan, dispute on whether it equalled in performance the 1876 Cambridge crew.

Such arguments are fun, but by their nature sterile because the circumstances and the conditions or always so different, particularly in a race in which tactics play so much part.

The Oxford crew was based largely on the good 1877 crew and by this stage the problem which they had previously experienced with adapting to the sliding seats had been overcome and as they used them effectively.

They were described as having ‘a long swing back, a firm finish and were very clean on the feather’, although it was noted that they had still not learned how to make full use of the leg drive.

Cambridge on the other hand did not have the physique of Oxford and although there’ll well three old Blues including the President, Gurdon, there were no new oarsmen of any merit from whom to pick the rest of the crew. Certainly they were nowhere near up to the racing ability of Oxford.

On Boat Race day there was a slack tide and a strong south west wind. Oxford won the toss and selected to row on Surrey. Cambridge immediately set off at a faster rate against a more steady Oxford rhythm and within the first minute or so gained the best part of 1/2length. Cambridge continued to lead over the Fulham bend, in their favour, and were still ahead as they passed the mile tree but, by then, the Dark Blues were moving up steadily and shortly after this had passed them to lead as they passed the region of the Crabtree.

By Hammersmith Oxford were in the lead by some four lengths and the race was clearly over.

Oxford continued to row with the good long steady stroke over the rest of the course and although the Light Blues tried on various occasions to come up towards their rivals, the Oxford rowing was too strong for them and they moved steadily ahead all the way along the Chiswick Reach.

From there on the water became more affected by the south west wind and both crews suffered from the choppy water and the headwind into which they were now rowing. It affected Oxford less than their rivals and they still continued to move further ahead so that at the finish they had won easily in 22 minutes 15 seconds. The official record shows that they won by 40 seconds.