CRA Bumps 2015 – Day 1 – Cantabs Women on the up!

Cantabs Women entered a record number of crews into the 2015 CRA Bumps, with rowers of ages 15 to 50-something racing in ten crews. For many participants, this was their first experience of bumps racing, with a number of the juniors only having started sweep rowing a few weeks ago.

In Division Three, Hills Belles (W10) bumped City W10 down to Foot of the River, leaving Flotsam and Jetsam (W9) clear to row-over untroubled by any following crews, using equipment kindly loaned by Jesus College BC. Emma Dalrymple writes:

W9 row over, as W10 bump City W10 behind them.

W9 row over, as W10 bump City W10 behind them.

With the toxic combination of half a boat of Bumps virgins and a crew member turning up late and then preceding to catch a crab during warm up, it’s fair to say that F & J were feeling the nerves by the time we pulled up at the banks to prepare for our well-oiled, clockwork-like start (haha). Nerves were soon settled however, by the arrival of the reassuring and heartening figure we have all come to tolerate, our coach David [Winch], who, after a few last ‘slow on the slide’s and ‘use your thighs as break’s pushed us off for what was, it’s fair to say, a haphazard start.
Despite this, we managed to claw it back on track with the help of our Cox and make it past The Plough to the finish without being bumped – a successful first day!

Racks Out (W7) bumped 99s W6 within 20 strokes of the start. However, after their cox didn’t concede and 99s continued rowing, Racks Out decided to leave nothing to chance, so re-started and bumped them again before First Post Corner.

Hills Girls (W6), also grateful recipients of equipment loaned by Jesus College BC, rowed over behind a strong Rob Roy junior crew (their W4).

At the top of the Division Three, Dev Squad (W5) had to make changes to their initial line-up to accommodate the early start time, with Fiona Howe, Kai Liang and Katrina Crawford ably stepping into the breech. David Oldham writes:

Starting from the second chain, Cantabs got their well drilled start into action and were quickly within half a length of St Radegund’s W2, bumping at the First Post bend. Unfortunately Radegund conceded late and then stopped rowing straight away, causing carnage behind them.

After replacing their bow bobble, Cantabs returned to the water to row as the sandwich boat in Division Two. The bank parties quickly won the staring contest at the start and the result followed almost as fast, City W8 conceding at the Little Bridge.

Further up Division Two, the G-Oar-geous crew (W4) had a fast start and took half a length off City W5 ahead of them, but were bumped by City W6 on Grassy Corner, suggesting that City may not have got their crew ordering quite right…Wednesday’s racing may be telling.

Cantabs W3 about to bump Champs W3

Cantabs W3 about to bump Champs W3

At the top of Division Two, Senior Women, including three returners who haven’t been able to row due to conflicting career and sporting interests, made up W3. Starting at chain 2, they made short work of Champs 3, bumping them in The Gut. Rowing as Sandwich Boat at the bottom of Division One, they were behind Champs W2, who clearly gave their all in hope of bumping Radegund W1 before Cantabs could reach them. Their efforts were to no avail, and W3 bumped Champs W2 in First Post Reach.

Further up Division One, the Senior Women in W2 had a good start and closed on City W3, getting within a length at First Post Corner. W2 identified some changes to make in the hope of making the bump on Wednesday.

The Senior Women’s W1 crew, who featured in the Cambridge News Bumps preview, started in second-place, challenging City W1 for the Headship. City made the most of their clear-water advantage, managing to pull away each time Cantabs closed the gap down to about a length. Cantabs identified several opportunities for improvement, so will be back fighting on Wednesday.

Overall, a very positive start for Cantabs Women, with only one crew getting bumped and an net gain of five places across the ten crews. Well done to all the rowers, coxes and coaches!

To see how the Cantabs Men fared, see https://cantabsrowing.org.uk/cra-bumps-2015-day-1-cantabs-men-back-on-top/

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