The Boat Race 1982 fellow at St Hugh's was persuaded back into the crew by the Oxford boat club president Nick Conington. Rankov was rowing in his fifth consecutive Boat Race, alongside Steve Foster whom he supervised in classics. Oxford's crew also contained the Clay twins, Robert and Hugh. River conditions were calm: Jim Railton of "The Times" described the course as "a smooth and flat Queen's highway from Putney to Mortlake." Michael Muir-Smith was the umpire for the race, for which Oxford were "heavily favoured". They won the toss and elected to start from the Surrey station. A good start from the Light
Mortlake of the Council. Richmond Park, the constituency which includes Mortlake, had changed from Liberal Democrat to Conservative in the 2010 general election, was recaptured by the Liberal Democrats in the 2016 by-election, and finally reverted to Conservative MP Zac Goldsmith in the 2017 general election by a margin of only 45 votes. The London Assembly constituency South West, which includes Mortlake, is represented by former local councillor Tony Arbour (Conservative). The place-name 'Mortlake' is first attested in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it appears as "Mortelaga" and "Mortelage", a name with two possible derivations. If the second element is