The 154th Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race on Saturday is an international spectacle watched annually, the organisers assure us, by some 120 million television viewers around the world. Personally, I rather doubt that. Estimates for the crowd who line the Thames are more credible at 250,000.

But it is a great sporting event between historically pretty evenly matched boats. Cambridge has had 79 wins so far and Oxford 73. There was one dead heat in 1877. (The judge, “Honest John” Phelps, was alleged to have been asleep under a bush at the time the two crews crossed the finishing line).

This year will be the first in which neither president of the Oxford or Cambridge boat clubs will weald an oar in the race. The Cambridge leader, the Canadian Sam O'Shaughnessy, though a member of last year’s winning eight, didn’t make the selection, and will be in the reserve boat, Goldie. Oxford’s Nick Brodie will be in the Oxford Blue boat, though – he is cox.

Since 1976 the Boat Race has been sponsored, by amongst others Ladbrookes, Beefeater Gin and Aberdeen Asset Management. This year and until 2012 the sponsor is Xchanging, a fast-growing international "pure-play" business processing company. Well, of course it is. And if any of us want pure play processing, we’ll know where to go.

The race starts at 17.15 GMT at Putney, finishing some twenty minutes later at Mortlake, passing Hammersmith and Barnes.