Oxford and Cambridge all set to go oar to oar on the Thames once again in the quintessential English sporting tradition.
'It is a throwback to a gentle and innocent age when men settled their differences over a pint and an arm wrestle'
The Boat Race is such an English way of life. This weekend two of the most famous English universities will be thrashing and crashing through London's dear old River Thames. It is surely one of the most colourful spectacles and once again sport will spend a very pleasant day with its oldest friend.
For more than 150 years now the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race has been a traditional and well-established English institution. Two sets of Britain's liveliest academic minds will put down their books, squeeze into a boat and throw hostile stares at each other.
There are some of us who are just baffled at its enduring popularity. What possesses Britain's educated and erudite to row a boat against each other? And why, you may well ask, do they always pick a cold, windy day in late March to prove their sporting excellence?
Now, we all know that the Boat Race is as outdated as the mangle or the chimney sweep. It is a throwback to a gentle and innocent age when men settled their differences over a pint and an arm wrestle.
But the fact is that rowing's Olympic status remains unchallenged. Every four years Britain's finest rowers of all time have ploughed through the waters of Barcelona, Atlanta and Sydney to win Olympic gold medals. Matthew Pinsent, Sir Steve Redgrave and James Cracknell have all entered into the Olympic record books. Britain will never produce a more athletic and courageous band of sportsmen.
All three did their utmost to bring rowing into the sporting consciousness. With that lovely combination of stamina and dedication, Redgrave, Cracknell and Pinsent have taken rowing to the highest of levels.
So it is that Oxford and Cambridge will slug it out once again for the annual honour of rowing's most coveted prize. For one brief afternoon those brilliant eggheads studying history and politics will bid for glory. They will push and heave their oars for all they are worth - and then shake a courteous hand at the end.
Truly British sport wears its smartest clothes.
What do you think of this great English tradition? Let us know by using the comment box below.