The Boat Race 1978
| 124th Boat Race | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | 25 March 1978 | ||
| Winner | Oxford | ||
| Margin of victory | Cambridge sank | ||
| Winning time | 18 minutes 58 seconds | ||
| Overall record (Cambridge–Oxford) |
68–55 | ||
| Umpire |
James Crowden (Cambridge) |
||
| Other races | |||
| Reserve winner | Goldie | ||
| Women's winner | Cambridge | ||
|
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The 124th Boat Race between crews from the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge took place on the River Thames on 25 March 1978. Umpired by former Cambridge rower James Crowden, Oxford won in a time of 18 minutes and 58 seconds. The race was complicated by bad weather, and when faced with choppy water, a strong headwind and horizontal, driving rain, the Cambridge boat, which lacked splashboards, took on water and sank. It was the fifth time a boat had sunk during the event.
In the reserve race, Cambridge's Goldie beat Oxford's Isis by one-and-a-quarter lengths. Cambridge won the 33rd Women's Boat Race.
The Boat Race is a side-by-side rowing 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 River Thames in southwest London. The rivalry is a major point of honour between the two universities and is followed throughout the United Kingdom and worldwide. Oxford went into the race as reigning champions, having won the 1977 race by seven lengths, with Cambridge leading overall with 68 victories to Oxford's 54 (excluding the "dead heat" of 1877). The 1978 race was sponsored by Ladbrokes, while the BBC had paid between £10,000 and £20,000 to televise the event.
During training for the race, Oxford had sunk, taking on water in the inclement weather, and had decided to fit splashboards to their boat, while Cambridge opted to leave their boat unchanged. Prior to this year's event, there had been four sinkings in the history of the race. Cambridge sank in 1859, Oxford sank in 1925 and 1951, and both crews sank in 1912.
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