THE 2004 BOAT RACE Sunday 28 March 1800 BST Live coverage on BBC One

McLennan, a member of the crew who won by the narrowest margin in race history last year, was the major absentee from the team announcement.

"The stress fracture in my back has been causing me lots of problems," said the 23-year-old McLennan.

"When it came to the moment of selection we obviously had to pick the best and I missed out."

He added: "My back is on the mend and if all goes well I hope to be rowing in Isis [the reserve boat] on the day of the race."

Acer Nethercott will cox Oxford for the second straight year, beating off competition from 2002 winning cox Peter Hackworth.

The Cambridge crew includes Wayne Pommen, who missed last year's race after fracturing his wrist in a training collision on the river the day before the event.

The 24-year-old, who has since become the Cambridge president, has given up the chance of a place in Canada's coxless pairs for this year's Olympic Games in order to take part in the Boat Race.

Cambridge's returning blues include Sebastian Mayer from the 2002 race, Hugo Mallinson and Kris Coventry, both from last year's crew.

Andrew Shannon, from Scotland, Chris Le Neve Foster, Nate Kirk and Steffen Buschbacher have all graduated from last year's winning Cambridge reserve boat.

Oxford have four returning blues - two-time Boat Race winner Basil Dixon, Henry Morris, Nethercott and David Livingston, one of two pairs of brothers who made history last year by competing in opposing crews.

Livingston's brother James has gone on to be part of the Great Britain squad and won a silver medal in the coxed four at last year's World Championships.

Teams:

Cambridge: S Buschbacher, K Coventry, N Kirk, C Le Neve Foster, H Mallinson, S Mayer , W Pommen, K Richardson (cox), A Shannon.

Oxford: B Dixon, C Kennelly, D Livingston, H Morris, A Nethercott (cox), P Reed, J Scrogin, C Smith, A Stubbs.