It was an evening of champagne and celebration for Oxford students Sam Winter-Levy, Ben Myers and Zoe De Toledo after the rowing teams they coxed for won sound victories over Cambridge in the annual boat race.

Winter-Levy, at 18 the youngest cox for the Oxford-Cambridge race in a century, helped his team of Dark Blues achieve a 76th win over their rivals.

"It was amazing, such a great feeling, to win," he said, adding that it was "cold, but worth it" when in keeping with tradition he was thrown into the water after the race.

"This was the closest I've come to having an out of body experience – the whole thing was surreal," he said. "I'm still walking around with a smile on my face."

Myers, of Kingston, Surrey, is the president of the Oxford University Boat Club. The 21-year-old physics student led his crew to a four-length victory in the 157th race.

In the reserve race, Zoe De Toledo's Isis team saw off Cambridge with a 19-second lead.

The former St Paul's Girls school pupil, now studying for a masters in psychological research, now has her eyes on a spot in Great Britain's 2016 Olympics team.

The 23-year-old from London, who has been rowing for nearly a decade, has also competed internationally before, in the Junior World championships and the Under 23 World Championships.

She said Saturday's contest had been a great race. "We rowed very well and were leading the whole way," she said. "I was confident but I didn't expect to win by that margin.

"We celebrated with a lot of champagne, it was a really good night and the fact that both teams won made it even better."