The Boat Race 2003

149th Boat Race
Blades from both boats are close to clashing. Left to right: Coventry (Cantab.), B. Smith (Cantab.), Nethercott (Oxon.), M. Smith (Oxon.)
Date	6 April 2003 (2003-04-06)
Winner	Oxford
Margin of victory	1 foot
Winning time	18 minutes 6 seconds
Overall record (Cambridge–Oxford)	77–71
Umpire	Boris Rankov (Oxford)
Other races
Reserve winner	Goldie
Women's winner	Oxford
← 2002 2004 →

The 149th Boat Race took place on 6 April 2003. Held annually, the Boat Race is a side-by-side rowing race between crews from the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge along a 4.2-mile (6.8 km) tidal stretch of the River Thames in south-west London. The lead changed twice during the race, which Oxford won by one foot (30 cm), the smallest margin of victory in the history of the event. The close race has been described as "epic", while multiple Olympic gold-medallist Steve Redgrave suggested that the race was the "greatest we will see in our lifetimes".

Umpired by the Boat Race veteran Boris Rankov, the 2003 race was the first to be scheduled on a Sunday. As a result of a collision between the Cambridge boat and a launch, a member of the Cambridge crew was replaced just two days before the race. This was the first Boat Race to feature two sets of brothers on opposing sides. In the reserve race Goldie beat Isis and Oxford won the Women's race.

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"). First held in 1829, the race takes place on the 4.2-mile (6.8 km) Championship Course, between Putney and Mortlake on the River Thames in south-west London. The rivalry is a major point of honour between the two universities; it is followed throughout the United Kingdom and broadcast worldwide. Oxford went into the 2003 race as reigning champions, having won the previous year's race by three-quarters of a length, but Cambridge led overall with 77 victories to Oxford's 70 (excluding the "dead heat to Oxford by five feet" of 1877). The race was sponsored by Aberdeen Asset Management for the fourth consecutive year, and was the first to be scheduled on a Sunday, in order to avoid a clash with the live television broadcast of the Grand National. Although the 1984 race was held on a Sunday, it had been postponed from the Saturday following a collision between the Cambridge boat and a barge.