Cambridge, who looked smooth and slick, chose to do a technical outing this afternoon. They paddled as far as Barnes Bridge, almost the length of The Race course, practising various exercises including square blade rowing and single stroke rowing.

Oxford instead chose to do a shorter outing but with a four minute long high-rate piece. The piece, which was completed at around 35 strokes per minute, took the crew from their starting position just before the Mile Post to the Crow’s Nest.

Oxford’s outing did not take them past the Chiswick Eyot, where the water was at its roughest today. Cambridge, though, were forced to row through the challenging water on their way to Barnes Bridge. Cambridge also made their high-rate bursts look easy, handling their transition up to a solid rate 34 comfortably and smoothly.

In the strong head wind, the bow pairs of both crews had to row well; the experience in the Cambridge bows is certainly equalled by the energy and enthusiasm in the Oxford bows. In the sterns, Bastien Ripoll, in the Oxford stroke seat, seemed to set a slightly more dynamic rhythm today than Kip McDaniel of Cambridge.

The crews are unquestionably evenly matched going into Sunday’s competition.