Cambridge won the toss and elected to start from the Surrey station. Cambridge's cox Dowbiggin raised her hand to indicate that she was not ready to start just as Umpire Boris Rankov started the race. This allowed Oxford the initiative and they took an early lead. Cambridge slowly edged their way back into contention, and held a half-a-length lead at the two-mile mark. At St Paul's School, Cambridge were two-thirds of a length ahead before a series of oar clashes and umpire warnings forced the boats apart. A larger clash, between Cambridge's Monaghan and Oxford's Smith, took place by Chiswick Eyot before Oxford made the better recovery and quickly pushed out to secure a clear-water lead. Cambridge failed to threaten, and Oxford won by lengths.
