 According to Drinkwater , neither boat club president was " sensible of their duty to posterity , for they kept no records of the training of the crews " . Both crews arrived at Putney on 21 March , one week before the race , and each put in four practice sessions in the run @-@ up to the main event . Cambridge 's boat was built by Searle . The race was umpired by Joseph William Chitty who had rowed for Oxford twice in 1849 ( in the March and December races ) and the 1852 race . 
