Weybridge rower and Oxford president Alex Davidson put the drama of last year’s Boat Race defeat behind him by gaining revenge on his Cambridge counterparts this time round.

The 22-year-old led the Dark Blues to glory in the 159th Boat Race last Sunday, beating George Nash, of Molesey Boat Club, in the Cambridge boat, by a length and a half.

After last year’s drama, that saw a protest swimmer disrupt the race, a clash of oars and his team-mate Alex Woods collapse at the end, Davidson was overjoyed with the weekend win.

“I’m so proud of the guys. I’m so happy. This is probably as good as my life’s going to get for a while,” he said.

“We always just focused on our rowing because, ultimately, all you’ve got is the nine of you against the nine of them.

“Last year, I was gutted. I think the response was quite personal for a lot of the guys.

“For me, it was fairly straightforward. I knew I was able to trial for the team again. I knew I had the potential to improve my rowing, and I knew that, after losing the race, I wanted more than anything to come back and do it again, as president.

“So, for me, it was about getting back into the training, getting a summer’s racing under my belt and getting on with trying to make the blue boat for the 2013 race.”

For Nash, the defeat marked the end of his Boat Race career after the 23-year-old confirmed that Sunday was his final appearance in the event.

He said: “Oxford put together a really fantastic race. They put in one too many moves and we couldn’t answer it, which is something that is going to probably replay in my head for the rest of my life.

“I’m pretty proud of the guys the way they have committed. “It wasn’t pretty rowing at all but it was tough.”

The Dark Blues completed victory in 17 minutes, 27 seconds, having led from the front to cut Cambridge’s overall lead to 81-77.

Davidson said: “We always say that you can’t really win the Boat Race off the start, but you can definitely lose it.

“The start is the point of the race over which you have the most control and you can stick to your plan, but ultimately it’s a 17-minute race and you have to be in it for the long haul if you want to win.”