page_title: The Boat Race 1961
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: The Boat Race 1961 / Background
caption_attribution_description: Nederlands: Prinses Margaret , Lord Snowdon en Prins Bernhard in de Hoovercraft, Prinses Margaret , Lord Snowdon en Prins Bernhard
context_page_description: The 107th Boat Race took place on 1 April 1961. 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. The race which was delayed, the lead changed hands several times and an Oxford rower slumped and nearly fell out of the boat. It was won by Cambridge by ​4 ¹⁄₄ lengths in a time of 19 minutes 22 seconds.
context_section_description: 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 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 2014, broadcast worldwide.  Oxford went into the race as reigning champions, having won the 1960 race by ​1 ¹⁄₄ lengths, while Cambridge led overall with 58 victories to Oxford's 47 (excluding the "dead heat" of 1877). Cambridge had not lost three consecutive races since the 1913 race.
  Cambridge's coaches included J. R. F. Best, James Crowden (who rowed for the Light Blues in the 1951 and 1952 races), Derek Mays-Smith (who rowed in the 1955 and 1956 races), J. R. Owen (1959 and 1960 races) and J. J. Vernon (who rowed in the 1955 race).  Oxford's coaching team comprised Jumbo Edwards (who rowed for Oxford in 1926 and 1930), J. L. Fage (an Oxford Blue in 1958 and 1959) and L. A. F. Stokes (who rowed for the Dark Blues in the 1951 and 1952 races).  Oxford opted to row with 13-foot (4.0 m) long oars, 1 foot (0.3 m) longer than Cambridge's. Cambridge arrived at Putney with a reputation for speed over short distances and were regarded as "potentially dangerous challengers".  Meanwhile, Oxford were anticipated to be "exceptionally strong" yet on occasion their rowing appeared to be "laborious", with some commentators blaming the longer oars.
  The race was umpired by George Douglas "Jock" Clapperton who had coxed Oxford in the 1923 and 1924 races as well as umpiring in the 1959 boat race.  He was accompanied in the umpire's boat by Antony Armstrong-Jones, husband of Princess Margaret, who had coxed Cambridge to victory in the 1950 race.
caption: Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon (pictured in 1965) spectated from the umpire's boat.
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