text: the boat race 1986 the 132nd boat race took place on 29 march 1986 . held annually , the boat race is a side - by - side rowing race between crews from the universities of oxford and cambridge along the river thames . cambridge won by seven lengths and took their first victory in eleven years , in one of the fastest winning times in the history of the event . isis won the reserve race , while oxford were victorious in the women 's boat race . background the boat race is a side - by - side rowing competition between the university of oxford ( sometimes referred to as the " dark blues " ) and the university of cambridge ( sometimes referred to as the " light blues " ) . first held in 1829 , the race takes place on the 4 . 2 - mile ( 6 . 8 km ) championship course on the river thames in southwest london . the rivalry is a major point of honour between the two universities and followed throughout the united kingdom and broadcast worldwide . oxford went into the race as reigning champions , having beaten cambridge by four - and - three - quarter lengths in the previous year 's race . however cambridge held the overall lead , with 68 victories to oxford 's 62 , despite oxford having won the previous ten races . the first women 's boat race took place in 1927 , but did not become an annual fixture until the 1960s . up until 2014 , the contest was conducted as part of the henley boat races , but as of the 2015 race , it is held on the river thames , on the same day as the men 's main and reserve races . the reserve race , contested between oxford 's isis boat and cambridge 's goldie boat has been held since 1965 . it usually takes place on the tideway , prior to the main boat race . the race was sponsored by ladbrokes for the tenth consecutive year , estimated to be worth about £ 30 , 000 to each boat club , and was umpired by former cambridge rower mike sweeney . crews the oxford crew weighed an average of over 5 pounds ( 2 . 3 kg ) per rower more than cambridge . cambridge 's crew featured only two rowers over the age of 24 while oxford had just three men under 25 . oxford saw three blues return while cambridge welcomed back four . the cambridge crew featured three international rowers , two canadians in gibson and wilson , and the american pew . oxford 's macdonald was the oldest in the race at the age of 30 , he was accompanied in the boat by international rowers clark and livingstone from the united states and jones from australia . dan topolski was the oxford coach while cambridge relied on alan inns and canadian olympic coach neil campbell . cambridge were clear favourites to win , but prior to the race , topolski claimed his crew had " pulled themselves back into contention by sheer hard work . " races oxford won the toss and elected to start from the surrey station . the predicted severe wind did not materialise and from the start , cambridge pulled ahead . a half - length lead by the end of putney boathouses became a two length lead by hammersmith bridge , and cambridge 's cox burton steered towards the safer surrey side , extending cambridge 's lead to 14 seconds by chiswick steps . continuing to pull away , cambridge passed the finishing post 21 seconds and seven lengths ahead of oxford . it was the sixth fastest time in the history of the race . this was cambridge 's first victory in eleven years and took the overall record to 69 – 62 in favour of cambridge . in the reserve race , oxford 's isis beat cambridge 's goldie by six lengths , while oxford won the 41st women 's boat race . reaction the trophy was presented by former cambridge student prince edward . cambridge stroke john pritchard said " after our initial start we built up for 20 strokes , steadied and then just grinded away . " he added " i was just stirring the tea while the others did the work . " cambridge cox carole burton noted " i went where i wanted to go . " oxford 's jones remarked " we were as well prepared as last year but we found no magic . " topolski conceded that even had oxford been at their best , they would still have lost the race .