Oxford and Cambridge today unveiled their line-ups to contest this year’s Boat Race, sponsored by Xchanging, which will take place on 29 March at 17:15.

The announcement came at the 2008 National Junior Indoor Rowing Championships (NJIRC) at the Evolution Centre in London’s Battersea Park at which Oxford President Nick Brodie, representing last year’s losers, challenged Cambridge President, Dan O’Shaughnessy, to a re-match in a tradition dating back to 1829.

Cambridge Head Coach Duncan Holland then broke with tradition to reveal a crew of nine rather than eight, plus cox Rebecca Dowbiggin. Londoner Tobias Garnett and Bartosz Szczyrba from Poland are still competing for the number 4 seat in the Light Blue boat.

Rebecca will be looking to make history by becoming the first female Cambridge cox to win two consecutive Boat Races after steering Cambridge to a 1¼-length victory last year. She is joined by four other British crew members – Peter Marsland, Tom Ransley, Henry Pelly and Colin Scott. Australians Tim Perkins and Tom Edwards have taken the 2 and 7 seats respectively, while American Shane O’Mara is at stroke. President Dan O’Shaughnessy will row in the Goldie boat.

Speaking of his 2008 line-up, Duncan Holland said: “This year’s crew is younger, lighter and less experienced than last year. I expect Oxford will be the favourites. We’re happy with that and will just have to row better to win.”

Sean Bowden, the Head Coach at Oxford, has chosen a primarily international crew for this year’s Race. Four Americans, Australian Toby Medaris and German Jan Herzog to make up the Blue boat along with three Oxford competitors – Ben Smith at number 3 seat, Oliver Moore at number 6 seat and cox Nick Brodie, who is looking to avenge for last year’s defeat.

“We are definitely working towards creating a higher-quality, stronger technical crew than last year,” said Bowden. “They have good focus and are physically strong, so technically they will be better”.

The Race will be screened live on ITV1 during a programme that begins at 16:15 and also broadcast live on LBC radio 97.3.

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The 2008 Boat Race Crews

Blue boats

   bow    Colin Scott           bow    Jan Herzog
    2     Tim Perkins            2     Toby Medaris
    3     Henry Pelly            3     Ben Smith
    4     *Tobias Garnett*       4     Aaron Marcovy
    5     Peter Marsland         5     Michael Wherley
    6     Tom Ransley            6     Oliver Moore
    7     Tom Edwards            7     Charles Cole
  stroke  Shane O'Mara         stroke  William England
   cox    Rebecca Dowbiggin     cox    Nicholas Brodie

Goldie/Isis boats

   bow    Marco Espin           bow     Paul Kelly
    2     John Heder             2      Bradley Mytton
    3     *Bartosz Szczyrba*     3      Anthony Mullin
    4     Dan O'Shaughnessy      4      Matthew Brown
    5     Alastair Macleod       5      Andrew Wright
    6     Dave Billings          6      Justin Stangel
    7     Spencer Hunsberger     7      Robin Ejsmond-Frey
  stroke  Ryan Monaghan         stroke  Martin Walsh
   cox    Russ Glenn             cox    Philip Clausen-Thue