The 118th Boat Race took place on 1 April 1972. Held annually, the Boat Race is a side-by-side rowing race between crews from the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge along a 4.2-mile (6.8 km) tidal stretch of the River Thames in south-west London. Umpired by former Cambridge Blue Philip Carpmael, the race was won by Cambridge, who passed the finishing post nine-and-a-half lengths ahead of Oxford in a time of 18 minutes and 36 seconds, their fifth consecutive victory. The win took the overall record since 1829 to 66–51 in favour of Cambridge.