Oxford go into this Saturday’s Boat Race as the heavier of the two crews and clear favourites with the bookmakers to make it three wins in the last four years.

Ladbrokes are quoting Oxford at 1/2 and Cambridge at 6/4, while William Hill have the Dark Blues at 4/6 and the Light Blues at 11/10.

News of the late change in the Cambridge boat, with Ryan Monaghan replacing fellow-American Shane O’Mara at stroke, saw Oxford favoured even more strongly on Betfair.

The latest weather forecast suggests both crews will face a difficult race, with south-westerly winds of more than 20 mph wind predicted around the time of the start at 17:15 GMT.

Earlier in the week, the Oxford Blue boat crew had weighed in at 786.6 kilograms – some 43.2 kilograms heavier than their Light Blue rivals at 743.4 kilograms. The inclusion of 23-year-old Monaghan had added another 6.4 kilograms to the weight of the Cambridge boat.

The heaviest individual on either boat is 23-year-old Australian Toby Medaris at 102.6 kg (16 stone 2lbs). He occupies the No.2 seat in the Oxford boat and is studying for an MSc in Management Research at Kellogg College.

He is just a fraction heavier than his fellow crew member, American Aaron Marcovy (102kg) who is studying Fine Art at St Edmund Hall. Aaron, from Cleveland, Ohio, is one of four American oarsmen in the Oxford boat. The others are former Olympian and world champion Michael Wherley (Sun Prairie, Wisconsin), Charles Cole (Connecticut) and stroke William England (Marblehead, MA). The sole American in the Cambridge boat is the new inclusion at stroke, Ryan Monaghan, from Rochester, New York.

The heaviest Light Blue is Peter Marsland, from Chiswick who weighed in at 101.8 kg. Peter, 23, is at No.5 in the Cambridge boat and studying Environmental Policy at Clare Hall.

Both Head Coaches declared themselves happy with the outcome of the Weigh-In. Sean Bowden of Oxford said he was surprised to have the heavier crew, but weight had played no part in selection, while Duncan Holland said that although historically the heavier crew normally wins, he had no problem with Cambridge being regarded as the underdogs.