 There , the Cambridge cox succeeded in forcing the Oxford boat wide and into rough water , and took advantage , drawing clear above Chiswick Eyot . To avoid the breaking waves , Oxford pulled in behind the Light Blue boat and as such , the race as a contest was effectively ended . Cambridge continued to pull away and passed the finishing post with a lead of five lengths in a time of 19 minutes 46 seconds , the slowest winning time since the 1954 race . It was Cambridge 's second consecutive victory and their largest winning margin since the 1955 race . According to the rowing correspondent for The Times , " for Cambridge this was a most convincing though not unexpected victory " . 
