38th Boat Race | |||
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Date | 8 April 1881 | ||
Winner | Oxford | ||
Margin of victory | 3 lengths | ||
Winning time | 21 minutes 51 seconds | ||
Overall record (Cambridge–Oxford) |
17–20 | ||
Umpire |
Robert Lewis-Lloyd (Cambridge) |
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The 38th Boat Race, an annual side-by-side rowing race between crews from the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge along the River Thames, took place on 8 April 1881. In a race umpired by Robert Lewis-Lloyd, Oxford won by a margin of three lengths in a time of 21 minutes 51 seconds taking the overall record to 20–17 in their favour.
The Boat Race is an annual rowing eight competition between the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge. First held in 1829, the competition is a 4.2-mile (6.8 km) race along The Championship Course on the River Thames in southwest London. The rivalry is a major point of honour between the two universities and followed throughout the United Kingdom and worldwide. Oxford went into the race as reigning champions having won the previous year's race by three-and-three-quarter lengths, and held the overall lead, with 19 victories to Cambridge's 17 (excluding the "dead heat" of 1877).
Cambridge were coached by Constantine William Benson (who rowed for Cambridge in the 1872, 1873 and 1875 races), Charles Gurdon (a Blue four times from 1876 to 1879), Thomas Edmund Hockin (also rowed four times from 1876 to 1879) and Edward Henry Prest (who represented Cambridge in the 1878, 1879 and 1880 races). Oxford's coaches were S. D. Darbishire (who rowed for Oxford in the 1868, 1869 and 1870 races), William Grenfell (who rowed in 1877 and 1879, and was non-rowing boat club president in 1879), H. B. Southwell (a Blue three times from 1878 to 1880) and W. B. Woodgate (who rowed twice, in the 1862 and 1863 races). The umpire for the race was Robert Lewis-Lloyd (who had rowed for Cambridge four times between 1856 and 1859) and the starter was Edward Searle.