Lent Bumps: Day 4 Round Up

It was a slightly earlier start on Day 4, with 6 divisions racing on the penultimate day of Lent Bumps 2011. Today ideas about headship, blades and spoons came into much sharper focus, with some big winners and even bigger losers.

The Big Picture: Downing protected their double headship without too much trouble, but the big story of the day was the ease with which Caius passed First and Third to get into second place.

In terms of team performances Caius will be delighted on the men’s side, where they have two boats going for blades, though both women’s boats fell. Another difficult day for FaT, who had 4 of their 5 boats in action today bumped, while it was woeful again for Sidney Sussex, who have no boats with a positive move this week.

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Division by division here’s our account of all the action today:

M1 Results

1 Downing

2 Caius

3 FaT

4 LMBC

5 Pembroke

6 Queens’

7 Tit Hall

8 Jesus

9 Clare

10 Peterhouse

11 Emma

12 Magdalene

13 King’s

14 Girton

15 Christ’s

16 Fitz

17 Robinson

18 Churchill

Eligible for Blades: Caius, Christ’s

Eligible for Spoons: King’s

Analysis:

Caius bumping FaT at Ditton has led to the final day that many have been hoping for: a Downing v. Caius showdown. Downing looked assured in the headship position, but will certainly have to be at their best tomorrow. The LMBC-Pembroke-Queens’-Tit Hall-Jesus-Clare train all rowed over, although at certain stages in the race Queens’ both looked like being bumped and bumping. At least Jesus was saved by Clare from spooning. King’s, however, were not, and some heated action on grassy corner led to them being bumped by Magdalene, despite Girton believing they had the bump first. Check out the footage here.

Anyway, a pile-up ensued, and Magdalene were left with a broken boat that they had to walk home.

In the middle of the division, Emma were bumped by Peterhouse, while further down, Christ’s continued their impressive campaign for blades by bumping Fitz.

Predictions:

The headship battle promises to be extremely close. On results so far, Caius should take it, they are the quicker crew, and have certainly looked more threatening all term. With the headship advantage of clear water (thought to be about 1.5 lengths), however, will Downing be able to hold them off? It promises to be a great race, and well worth a watch for anyone who has a bit of time at 4:40 tomorrow afternoon. Further down, LMBC will have a good chance of bumping FaT, while there will be another good race between Tit Hall, Queens’ and Downing, although more rowovers should be expected.

Christ’s will be hot on the heels of Girton if they fail to bumps King’s, but King’s collapsing first looks the most likely, denying Christ’s blades. Peterhouse have also been impressive, and should catch Clare, while Magdalene will need to find a working boat if they hope to bump Emma.

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M2 Results:

1 Churchill

2 Selwyn

3 St. Catharine’s

4 First and Third II

5 Caius II

6 Downing II

7 Sidney Sussex

8 Lady Margaret II

9 Jesus II

10 Wolfson

11 Pembroke II

12 Homerton

13 Queens’ II

14 Corpus Christi

15 Emmanuel II

16 Christ’s II

17 St Edmund’s

18 ARU

Eligible for Blades: Pembroke II

Eligible for Spoons: Corpus Christi

Analysis:

Caius II were unable to continue up the bumps table as Catz made up for their poor show yesterday by bumping FaT back today. Churchill and Selwyn rowed over at the top, while there was more excitement at the bottom of the division. Fortunately for Queens’, they managed to bump Corpus before the crash happened, although the bottom 4 were all awarded technical rowovers in recognition of Homerton’s crash, which gave Pembroke an easy bump, helping them in their quest for blades. Elsewhere, Wolfson were pushing away from Jesus, until a crab caused some erratic steering into the bank, and Jesus ploughed straight into them. Only 6 men rowing the Wolfson boat home was the unfortunate end result.

Predictions:

Wolfson should hope to bump back Jesus tomorrow, meaning that Pembroke will have to work hard and fast to bump Wolfson if they want their blades. Emma should be on to catch the Corpus boat that is heading for spoons. Caius II should find FaT II an easy target, although Downing will hope to have a say in this, Caius have looked quicker all week and will hope to come out on top, as will their M1 crew in an almost replica battle. St Catz, or ‘Lolcatz’ as they are now affectionately known, will probably continue their poor form and fail to bump Selwyn.

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M3 Results:

1 ARU

2 Darwin

3 Magdalene II

4 Peterhouse II

5 Selwyn II

6 Churchill II

7 FaT III

8 Clare II

9 Tit Hall II (from 12th)

10 Jesus III

11 King’s II

12 Robinson II (from 9th)

13 Hughes Hall

14 St Catz II

15 Caius III

16 LMBC III

17 Girton II

18 Addenbrooke’s (sandwich boat)

Eligible for Blades: Caius III

Eligible for Spoons: Darwin, Robinson II, LMBC III

Analysis:

Robinson had a disaster, their campaign for spoons going from strength to strength (they are -7 for the week), after a convincing overbump at the hands of Tit Hall. Caius continued well into division 3 by bumping LMBC. While Hughes Hall’s success this week stopped as Tit Hall and Jesus ahead of them both bumped out. A close race between ARU, Darwin and Magdalene resulted in ARU bumping Darwin, while Magdalene were awarded a technical rowover in recognition of the carnage up front. A top quality race with the top 3 boats giving it their all.

Predictions:

LMBC seem to think that it is “pretty likely” that they will get spoons, while Darwin and Robinson are also in serious danger of “increasing their cutlery collection”. Caius III has been rapid all week, and should be confident of bumping Catz early on. Magdalene should be able to bump Darwin, hopefully making up for their misfortune today.

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W1:

1 Downing

2 Emma

3 Pembroke

4 FaT

5 Jesus

6 Christ’s

7 Queens’

8 Tit Hall

9 Caius

10 Clare

11 LMBC

12 Newnham

13 Catz

14 Magdalene

15 King’s

16 Selwyn

17 Churchill

18 Peterhouse

Eligible for Blades: Downing, Trinity Hall

Eligible for Spoons: First and Third, Christ’s, St Catz

Analysis:

Downing continued their dominant performance at head; Emma didn’t look like challenging them at all. FaT, however, continued falling, and are eligible for spoons after being bumped by Pembroke. Catz have also fallen consistently, while Caius had another poor day being bumped by the rapid Tit Hall. Confusion, however, ensued on the reach: Christ’s were first, followed by Jesus, followed by Queens’, coming down the reach, a couple of feet separated all three crews, following the confusion over who bumped who, CUCBC have released a statement issuing a re-row tomorrow morning for those three crews, and so deciding who rows at 5, 6 and 7 tomorrow.

Predictions:

LMBC will have to avoid being bumped by Newnham again tomorrow, they will be hoping for a repeat of Newnham’s adventure on Wednesday. Depending on the results of the re-row, expect a good race between Queens’ and Tit Hall: Tit Hall will hope to bump Queens’ before they get Christ’s. Downing to take the headship, while Pembroke will push Emma hard for position 2. Selwyn to bump King’s.

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W2 Results:

1 Peterhouse

2 Girton

3 Emmanuel II

4 Murray Edwards

5 Lady Margaret II

6 Sidney Sussex

7 Fitzwilliam

8 Jesus II

9 Corpus Christi

10 Robinson

11 Hughes Hall/Lucy Cav.

12 Homerton

13 Pembroke II

14 First and Third II

15 St Edmund’s

16 Anglia Ruskin

17 Christ’s II

18.Caius II

Eligible for Blades: Murray Edwards, Lucy Cav/Hughes Hall, St Edmund’s, Christ’s II

Eligible for Spoons: ARU

Analysis:

Christ’s made a great entrance into the W2 division by bumping Caius. The most exciting part of this race, however, was the struggle between Fitz, Jesus and Sidney. At one point, Jesus was half a length off Sidney, while Fitz were half a length off Jesus. Jesus started to tire and was smashed into by Fitz, a devastating result for them. Murray Edwards were quick to bump LMBC, setting their stall for blades out in style.  In contrast, ARU continued to be really slow, and spoons look almost certain for them.

Predictions:

Expect those crews on course for blades to get them. Murray Edwards in particular look extremely fast, as do Christ’s, so Emma and ARU should expect to be hit. Based on the tussle today, Fitz should be able to bump Sidney, leaving LMBC to row over. St Edmund’s should be on track to bump FaT.

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W3

1 Christ’s II

2 Addenbrooke’s

3 Newnham II

4 Darwin

5 Wolfson

6 Clare II

7 Downing II

8 Selwyn II

9 Queens’ II

10 Peterhouse II

11 Sidney II

12 Tit Hall

13 Clare Hall

14 Newnham III

15 Girton II

16 Hughes Hall/Lucy Cav

17 Fitz II

18 Murray Edwards II

Eligible for Blades: N/A (Christ’s II have moved into Division 2)

Eligible for Spoons: Clare II, Queens’ II, Sidney II, Murray Edwards II

Analysis:

Clare, Queens’ and Sidney continued their descent, rendering themselves eligible to end the week with a set of spoons. Along with Murray Edwards, who are on for spoons for being the lowest women’s boat in all of bumps. Christ’s II made the ascent into division II, carrying on their successful week. With only 4 crews out of 18 not bumping, there was a lot of action for all involved.

Predictions:

Expect even more bumps, with Clare, Queens’ and Sidney all set to fall even further, with strong boats starting behind each of them. Caius II will head the division tomorrow, but should be able to hold off Addies.

Check out the summary of Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3.