The Boat Race 1899

56th Boat Race
Date	25 March 1899 (1899-03-25)
Winner	Cambridge
Margin of victory	3 and 1/4 lengths
Winning time	21 minutes 4 seconds
Overall record (Cambridge–Oxford)	23–32
Umpire	Frank Willan (Oxford)
← 1898 1900 →

The 55th Boat Race took place on 25 March 1899. Held annually, the Boat Race is a side-by-side rowing race between crews from the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge along the River Thames. Cambridge won, their first success in a decade, by three-and-a-quarter lengths in a time of 21 minutes 4 seconds. The victory took the overall record in the event to 32–23 in Oxford's favour.

The Boat Race is a side-by-side rowing competition between the University of Oxford (sometimes referred to as the "Dark Blues") and the University of Cambridge (sometimes referred to as the "Light Blues"). The race was first held in 1829, and since 1845 has taken place on the 4.2-mile (6.8 km) Championship Course on the River Thames in southwest London. The rivalry is a major point of honour between the two universities; it is followed throughout the United Kingdom and as of 2014, broadcast worldwide. Oxford went into the race as reigning champions, having won the 1898 race "easily", with Cambridge leading overall with 32 victories to Cambridge's 22 (excluding the "dead heat" of 1877).

Oxford's coaches were G. C. Bourne who had rowed for Oxford in the 1882 and 1883 races, Douglas McLean (an Oxford Blue five times between 1883 and 1887) and R. P. Rowe (who rowed for Oxford four times between 1889 and 1892). Cambridge were coached by William Fletcher, Oxford Blue and R. C. Lehmann, the former president of the Cambridge Union Society and captain of the 1st Trinity Boat Club (although he had rowed in the trials eights for Cambridge, he was never selected for the Blue boat). The umpire for the race for the tenth year in a row was Frank Willan who won the event four consecutive times, rowing for Oxford in the 1866, 1867, 1868 and 1869 races.

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