The controversy surrounding the result led to significant changes to the way in which the race was conducted including the introduction of finishing posts and former Blues as umpires.

[11] The Cambridge crew featured seven former Blues, including the cox George Latham Davies and number four William Brooks Close, both of whom were participating in their third Boat Races.

[13] The Dark Blues took an early lead and were ahead at the Mile Post, but by the Crab Tree pub, the crews were level.

[11] Experiencing strong head winds and rough water, Cowles, the Oxford bow man, suffered serious damage to his oar, nullifying further contribution to the race.

[11] In the Official Centenary History it was noted that "it is too perhaps too much to expect, even from the stoical discipline of old Blues, a unanimous acquiescence in a verdict of "dead-heat," for no conclusion could be more unsatisfactory to the competitors themselves.

"[11] Oxford firmly believed that they had won the race by feet, but following a subsequent meeting in a law court with representatives of both universities and the umpire Chitty, the official result was declared as "Dead Heat", although contemporary accounts claim Phelps himself called it a "dead-heat to Oxford by 5 feet".

"[19] A correspondent writing in The Sydney Mail said both teams should "consider themselves lucky" that they did not lose, and speculated that the race would be looked back as "the great gooseberry" year.

[20] They remain, as of 2014, 113 metres (371 ft) downstream of Chiswick Bridge and are engraved with "UBR" for University Boat Race.