The Boat Race 1963

109th Boat Race
Date	23 March 1963 (1963-03-23)
Winner	Oxford
Margin of victory	5 lengths
Winning time	20 minutes 47 seconds
Overall record (Cambridge–Oxford)	60–48
Umpire	G. A. Ellison (Oxford)
← 1962 1964 →

The 109th Boat Race took place on 23 March 1963. Held annually, the event is a side-by-side rowing race between crews from the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge along the River Thames. The race, umpired by Gerald Ellison, the Bishop of Chester, was won by Oxford with a winning margin of five lengths.

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, followed throughout the United Kingdom and broadcast worldwide. Cambridge went into the race as reigning champions, having won the previous year's race by five lengths, and led overall in the event with 60 victories to Oxford's 47 (excluding the "dead heat" of 1877).

Cambridge's coaches were Harry Almond (who rowed for Cambridge in the 1950 and 1951 races), Tony Butcher (who rowed in the 1947 race for Cambridge), David Jennens (who rowed three times between 1949 and 1951) and Brian Lloyd (who also rowed three times from 1949 to 1951). Oxford were coached by R. M. A. Bourne (who represented Oxford in the 1946 and 1947 races), Ronnie Howard (who rowed twice, in the 1957 and 1959 races), Mike Nicholson (the non-rowing boat club president of Cambridge in 1947), Antony Rowe (who had rowed in the 1948 and 1949 races) and E. R. Spencer. During practice rows at Putney, Cambridge experienced a number of "crabs" and while the crew demonstrated a "nervous disability to cope with rough water", they had the quicker start.

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