The following is an overview of how the boat race has changed in the 175 years since the 1829 race, from diets and training to the actual designs of the boats and oars.

The diet in 1829 was a fairly hefty one but for the rowers largely composed of meat and beer.

In wartime it was literally the normal rations. This meant that the training programme had to be carefully thought out as it became apparent that oarsmen lost a significant amount of weight when the crews rowed courses and it was not possible to regain this before the next outing. A delicate balance had to be struck between doing enough to build up fitness and stamina without draining the strength of the crew. one of the abiding memories of the crews was how hungry they became.

Nowadays they are back to the very high energy intakes that are necessary with that level of activity, but pasta plays a substantial part in their diet.

In the mid 1800s the crew was often only put into training about 3 weeks before the race and the shortest time of practice was recorded as "11 days, but excluded the Sunday" although most would have been rowing for their colleges for about three days a week from the beginning of the term just before the race.

In wartime there were restrictions on the number of hours of practice on just three days a week.

Now the Blues would normally be in practice for effectively the whole year. They reckon to do about 30 hours a week from October onwards.

The 1829 Oxford boat was a Cornish sea going gig made of spruce on oak main struts. It was some 45 feet long and the beam was 4 feet 5 ins at the widest point. The depth was about 2 feet 6 ins and the seats were all fixed (i.e. no sliding seats), The oars were more or less the same size over their whole length and the oarsmen sat on the opposite side to their oars to get the necessary leverage. There were no rowlocks, just two wooden pins sticking up from the thwarts. The weight, with oars was said to be almost 1000 lbs although this figure has been disputed.

By 1940 there was a smooth outside wooden skin for the best of the racing boats, the length was between 54 and 60 feet, the width just under 2 feet and the depth around 9 inches. The seats were sliding and the oars were carried on outriggers, though some crews still used fixed rowlocks and some swivels. The blades were spade shaped and the overall weight was of the order of 350 lbs.

Nowadays the construction is all from fibre reinforced plastic though the dimensions are not much different from those in the 1940s. The oars are now carried in swivels on the outriggers. The weight would normally be less than 200 lbs.