 According to the rowing correspondent for The Times , the " Cambridge Trial Eights ... were certainly not comparable with those of the past four years . " Conversely , Oxford " had better Trial Eights than for many years past " . They performed well in their practice rows during the build @-@ up to the race : they broke the record to the Mile Post by four seconds . Cambridge were considered " slightly the faster " but Oxford were " coming on " . Both crews rowed in boats built by Sims brothers of Putney , and used <unk> oars . 
