May Bumps 2017

Women's 1st VIII

Day 1

With Nina and Doris stepping up into W1 we were set to give it everything on the first day. The nerves were felt, however we put up a good fight before Emma (taking a very tight line) caught up to us and finally committed the kill. With a shake, we rowed back, fighting to come back again and show what we’re made of.

Day 2

Wolfson came from behind with a fast start. The only way to keep them off was to give it everything. After a better settle and wind up we were bumped. Rhiannon also managed to save us from a tree by enduring most of it with her underarm. Chins should be raised with the fight, tomorrow is another day and a high potential is there.

Day 3

There was a lot of hope here that Downing, the crew behind Sidney, would catch them before they caught us, since Downing were fast and on track for blades. There was horror in our eyes when Downing took a very strange line meaning that Sidney could get us. We were pulled to the side and tears were shed at the effort we had put in for nothing to come back.

Day 4

Most of Downing behind us knew this was our only shot at getting Sidney and not getting double spoons. We laid it all down on the water, but even with a good start we were no match for Downing on the day and they wound it up to give us a clean sweep of being bumped. We rowed well and we should be proud of what we achieved. The crew gets on so well and everyone that is going to leave us will be sorely missed.

Men's 1st VIII

M1 has had a relatively successful Easter Term and May Bumps campaign.

We had high hopes going into the week after having achieved very positive results in pre-bumps races (winning the Men's second division Express Head) and in various sparring sessions with other crews. However, we had a slight reality check on the first day when the crews in front and behind us bumped out very quickly. This left us with no option but to drop the rate and slowly row over to save energy for the coming days.

The second day resulted in one of the fastest bumps in recent M1 history - certainly the fastest any of the crew members had achieved. A powerful start and maintained pressure over the first 500 metres of the course saw us catch Jesus II on first post corner.

In front of us on day three was Caius II, the same crew we had missed on the first day of racing. We remained on-station with Caius until Ditton Corner - it was only in the second part of the course that we managed to take advantage of our fitness and consistently eat into the distance between the boats. After much persistence all the way down the reach, we got the bump just in front of women's first division boats after the Railway Bridge.

On the last day we were chasing after a strong Trinity Hall crew. Unfortunately, we remained on station with Trinity Hall the entire race. However, with Caius receiving no pressure from behind them, they threw everything at us and closed consistently to around a canvas which they maintained from Ditton Corner to halfway down the reach. A gutsy performance allowed our fitness to fend off the attack to remain level for the day. All-in-all, we had a successful Easter Term culminating in a bumps result of +2 for the week.