The last day of Bumps was a cracker, with Cantabs finishing as the most successful club on the river by far. After 5 days of racing, Cantabs finished +32 for the week, gaining an average of 1.36 places per crew entered! In a normal year, this would have easily won the John Jenner Trophy, which was not awarded this year because of the pandemic. As well as the +32 climb, Cantabs have the double headship, W2 are 2nd on the river, and the women’s crews went up a staggering +29 which beats the previous record +28 set by Cantabs in 2017.
So as a round-up of Friday’s racing…
Women’s Divisions
Kicking off proceedings on Friday was Women’s Division 3, which saw a bump for W12 (Progression Squad) on City W8 to finish +3 for the week, and row-overs for W10 (Intermediate Women) and W11 (Hills Road returners) who finished +3 and +2 for the week, respectively.
There was more action in Women’s Division 2, where W9 (‘COGS’) won blades after bumping an unlucky W8 (J15/16 Juniors). Also winning blades was W6 (Junior Performance/Hills Road), who bumped X-Press W2 on the final night. W7 (Intermediate Women) finished the week +3 after bumping Nines W4.
In Division 1, W5 (Senior Women) raced well but couldn’t quite make the bump on City W3, finishing +4 for the week and becoming the only W5 in Division 1. Friday was the 4th row over in a row for a gutsy W4 (Senior Women) who earned their hog roast after starting 7th and chasing X-Press W1 for most of the week. W3 (Senior Women) enjoyed a comfortable row over, untroubled by X-Press behind them.
W2 (Senior Women) retained their position as 2nd on the river after bumping on Thursday, and were never really challenged by an over hopeful City W1, who were bumped by Nines W1 on the line. W1 (Senior Women) finally completed the course at full race pace on Friday, finishing well ahead of the rest of the field and smashing the club’s record headship row over time by 16 seconds in the process. This crew now set their sights on qualifying for the Wargrave Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta.
The Cantabs women’s squads all accept new rowers and coxes at any time during the season. If you’re interested in finding out more, please click the links about each squad or contact the women’s captains for more information.
Men’s Divisions
M1 (Senior Men) put in a dominant performance at the Head of Men’s Division 1, to comfortably finish as Head of the River on Friday evening.
Elsewhere, M2 (Senior Men) and M3 (Hills Road returners) rowed over, with M4 (Hills Road) earning blades after bumping Chesterton M1 to finish 11th on the river and the highest M4 of all clubs. M5 (Aquaphobes) bumped Champs M1 to earn a safe spot in Division 1. As with the women, Cantabs are the only club with a 5th 8+ in Division 1.
In Division 2, M6 (Coaches) suffered a bump by Nines M5 which was probably not helped by downing shots at the 4 minute gun! M8 (Hills Road) bumped City M9 and M7 (Poachers) rowed over.
Division 3 saw M10 (Hunters) finally broke themselves away from a bumping back-and-forth with Chesterton M3 by catching City M10. M11 (Motley) rowed over behind X-Press M5, M12 (J15/16 Juniors) bumped Champs M4 and M13 (Invetereight) enjoyed a row over ahead of the Cambridge Vets.
The Cantabs men’s squads all accept new rowers and coxes at any time during the season. If you’re interested in finding out more, please click the links about each squad or contact the men’s captains for more information.
