 Cambridge's coaches were Harald Peake (who had participated in the Peace Regattas of 1919), G. L. Thomson and David Alexander Wauchope (who had rowed in the 1895 race).For the fifteenth year the umpire was old Etonian Frederick I. Pitman who rowed for Cambridge in the 1884, 1885 and 1886 races.According to author and former Oxford rower G. C. Drinkwater, the Oxford trial eights were "of a better average than those of the preceding years" and after they arrived at Putney, the Dark Blue crew "improved rapidly up to the day of the race".