 During preparation for the race, both crews were defeated on the Thames by the Lubrication Laboratory boat from Imperial College London. Jim Railton, writing in The Times was not impressed: "It has already been well established that there are no top class crews in this ... Boat Race. Each day on the Tideway in the final days of training have simply produced more negatives". Cambridge also lost twice in short races against their reserve crew Goldie, whom Oxford had defeated at the Reading University Head of the River Race by eight seconds. In appalling conditions, Cambridge won an interrupted race against a Barclays Bank crew. Meanwhile, Oxford defeated a "motley eight" from Tideway Scullers School by four lengths along the full course. Oxford's finishing coach was Daniel Topolski while Cambridge were guided by British Olympic rower David Jennens, and the race was umpired by Ran Laurie, who had rowed for Cambridge in the 1934, 1935 and 1936 races.
