The Boat Race 1914

71st Boat Race
The 1914 Cambridge Boat Race crew
Date	28 March 1914 (1914-03-28)
Winner	Cambridge
Margin of victory	4 and 1/2 lengths
Winning time	20 minutes 23 seconds
Overall record (Cambridge–Oxford)	31–39
Umpire	Frederick I. Pitman (Cambridge)
← 1913 1920 →

The 71st Boat Race took place on 28 March 1914. 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. Oxford went into the race as reigning champions, having won the previous year's race. In this year's race, umpired by former rower Frederick I. Pitman, Cambridge won by four-and-a-half lengths in a time of 20 minutes 23 seconds. The victory took the overall record to 39–31 in Oxford's favour. It would be the last race for six years following the outbreak of the First World War.

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 2015, broadcast worldwide. Oxford went into the race as reigning champions, having won the 1913 race by three-quarters of a length, and led overall with 39 victories to Cambridge's 30 (excluding the "dead heat" of 1877).

Oxford's coaches were G. C. Bourne who had rowed for the university in the 1882 and 1883 races, his son Robert Bourne (who rowed four times from 1909 to 1912), and Harcourt Gilbey Gold (Dark Blue president for the 1900 race and four-time Blue). Cambridge were coached by Stanley Bruce (who had rowed in the 1904 race). For the eleventh year the umpire was old Etonian Frederick I. Pitman who rowed for Cambridge in the 1884, 1885 and 1886 races.