Before he knocked out Vicente in the middle of the third round, the "Harbin Boy, Wonder" dropped the Filipino twice in the second round.
In knocking out Vicente, Shelaeff wiped out the stigma of possessing a of Oxford. Cambridge rowed a t the race, but got very ragged The Light Blues won the toss and elected to row on the Surrey side. Patches of sunlight were visible from time to time as both crews got into their boats and paddled down to the starting point in somewhat rough water which looked as if it was getting rougher every minute; Football bladders, incidentally had been placed under the seats of both crews, for buoyancy.
The start was fairly even, with Cambridge pulling the faster stroke: both boats, however, threw up quite a fair amount of water. Oxford drew ahead gradually by half length, a length and then to a length and a half, keeping their swing very well and seemingly trying to pull far enough ahead to be in the advantageous position by the time Hammersmith Bridge was reached. Cambridge were pulling smoothly, and seemed to be holding something in reserve.
At the Mile Post, where the water was much smoother, Oxford had improved their lead to a good two and a half lengths. Cambridge, well in to the Surrey side of the n however, were creeping up and at Harrods only half a length separated the two boats.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.