Bastien Ripoll takes to the scales today at the traditional Boat Race weigh-in in London as part of Oxford’s crew. On Sunday, in a Race sponsored by business processing services company Xchanging, he will become the first Frenchman of all time to row in the Boat Race as an oarsman.

Francois de Rancourt, another Frenchman, coxed the 1963 Cambridge Blue Boat but Ripoll will be the first oarsman.

Or will he? Two others might be able to lay prior claim.

Albert de Rutzen (b 1831) may have been French but no records exist of his nationality. He rowed in the 1849 Races for Cambridge (there were two that year), winning once and losing once. He later became Chief Magistrate at Bow Street and was knighted in 1901.

William Henry Waddington (b 1826) was born in France but educated in England at Rugby School. He also rowed in the 1849 Cambridge Blue Boat. He subsequently became a naturalised Frenchman and from 1871-1873 held various ministerial posts in the French government before becoming French Prime Minister in 1879.

Whatever their nationality at the time of racing, it’s still true to say that Ripoll, an engineering student from Toulouse, will be the first Frenchman in over 150 years to have competed as an oarsman in this quintessentially British sporting occasion.

Meanwhile the combined line-ups of this year’s Oxford and Cambridge crews include one former and three current world champions, one former Olympic champion, eight oarsmen who have already won world senior medals and a smattering of world youth-level medallists.

If anything, the balance of metalwork weighs in Cambridge’s favour. They can boast former world and Olympic champion Kieran West, former world champion Thorsten Engelmann and world senior medallists Kip McDaniel, Peter Rudge, and Sebastian Schulte.

Oxford meanwhile feature twice world champion and former Olympic silver medallist Jake Wetzel as well as world and Olympic medallist Barney Williams, their President, alongside world champion Paul Daniels – the son of an American farmer from Wisconsin who has now, inevitably, been dubbed "The Magician".

Sunday’s Boat Race takes place at 4.35pm on the four and a quarter mile course from Putney to Mortlake. ITV will broadcast The Race live in the UK, LBC will provide live radio and online commentary and more than 120 million TV viewers will tune in worldwide.

Cambridge lead the series 78-72 but Oxford have won three of the last four encounters.

TRADITIONAL WEIGH-IN TODAY

Oxford and Cambridge’s Boat Race crews take part in the traditional pre-Race weigh-in today:

Location: The Hurlingham Club*, Ranelagh Gdns, London SW6.

09.30 - arrival and coffee 10.00 - weigh-in 10.45 - 12.00 - interviews and photography

Oxford weighed in as the heaviest crew of all time in 2005 and went on to win The Boat Race.

So, who will come out psychologically on top of this year’s visit to the scales?

The folklore of The Boat Race suggests that the heavier crew traditionally has an edge.

Yet Cambridge were a stone a man heavier than Oxford in 2003 - a Boat Race which Oxford won by just one foot in the closest and most exciting finish of all-time.

*Directions: The Hurlingham Club is situated close to Putney Bridge tube station. Attending media should turn left when exiting the station, turn left again and walk to the end of Ranelagh Gardens where there is a security entrance to the Hurlingham Club. There will also be car-parking available on the day.