A year ago the Oxford Eight won the University Boat Race in the fastest time ever recorded. Highlights from the months of selection and preparation for the lung-bursting 17 minutes are assembled in this story, set in and around the River Thames at Oxford, Henley and London. Next Saturday, Oxford and Cambridge race again for the 123rd time from Putney to Mortlake. There will be some new faces in the boats, but the ordeal the crews have undergone, and the emotions that spur them on, will be the same as for the Crew of 76, and for crews since the event began.
