The Hurlingham club, situated next to the River Thames at Fulham is an impressive Georgian clubhouse set in 42 acres of magnificent grounds. The club, founded in 1869, has a thirteen year waiting list for membership and provided a glamorous backdrop for the official weighing of the 2006 university boat race crews on Thursday morning.

The presence of so much spandex clad muscle amongst the peacocks and croquet lawns gave an (even more) surreal air to the proceedings, which felt like a cross between a modern day slave auction and a cattle market (the temptation to shout out bids was considerable).

Anyone looking for enlightenment from the average crew weights will be disappointed, as the crews are very evenly matched. Cambridge is a mere 9oz heavier per man than the Oxford blue boat, and the Goldie crew are only 2oz a man lighter than them.

Nick Brodie, the Isis cox who recently lost his seat in the blue boat to Seb Pearce, was absent for the weigh in, as he's suffering from flu. If he doesn't improve by the weekend, then the crew is likely to be coxed by Philip Clausen-Thue, who is due to cox the Oxford lightweights in their race at Henley on Saturday.

Yet again there is a strong international flavour to both hues of blue. In the words of one well known rowing photographer "it's a bit like watching Chelsea play Arsenal".

The Oxford blue boat has a strong North American slant, with the 4 to 7 seats filled by Canadians Barney Williams and Jake Wetzel, and Americans Jamie Schroeder and Paul Daniels.

Cambridge' line up has a German flavour (Seb Thormann, Thorsten Englemann and Seb Schutle) but also contains American Luke Walton returning for a second year, and Canadian Kip McDaniel. Three man, Seb Thormann, had a lucky escape last week when he was knocked off his bicycle in Cambridge on the crew's day off; luckily the only damage was a few scrapes and a stiff shoulder and he will be able to race on Sunday.

The Isis and Goldie crews also have their fair share of Americans ­ Andrew Brennan, Terence Reece Kooyker and Canadian Andrew Wright will row in Isis while Goldie is coxed by Russell Glenn and includes the Covney brothers, Ian and Kyle, and Dartmouth alumnus Don Wyper.

The crews are based in London in the run up to Sunday's race and have both been showing good form over the last week so it looks like it'll be another nail bitingly close one this year. Windy conditions are forecast for Saturday, which may favour the Oxford crew's style of rowing; Cambridge, however are quietly confident, President Tom Edwards declaring "we back ourselves in rough conditions".

Spares Race
And finally, the spare pairs race took place this morning. The spares race not over the full course, but from the milepost to the university stone, a total distance of a mile.

The Oxford pair, Nick Thomas-Peter (the lone Brit) and Jake Sattelmair (ex Harvard), won by a length over Cambridge ­ Spencer Hunsberger (ex Cornell) and Carl Dietz (ex-Yale).