Lent Bumps 2012: Day Five Round-Up

The last day of Bumps saw a more relaxed schedule, with only the four men’s divisions racing in windier conditions than have prevailed for the rest of the week.

In the division that normally sees the biggest rises and falls due to the high potential for large speed differentials and random accidents, there were no blades or spoons (apart from Selwyn III, who rowed over as Foot of the River for four days).

Downing III missed out on their fourth bump having been awarded a technical rowover after Pembroke III and Christ’s III bumped out yet again, spacking up and blocking the river.

The third division made up for the lack of big results in the bottom division, with Girton II, Catz II and Hughes Hall all earning their blades. There was a lot of movement in this division on the whole, with 13 crews going up or down 3 or more.

Darwin remain head of the division after Corpus, at the bottom of the 2^nd division, managed to avoid relegation and bump Emma II. This leaves Clare Hall, Darwin and Eddies, who spooned from the bottom of the 2^nd division, as the only first boats in the bottom two divisions of Lents.

Further up the M2 division, Sidney managed to bump Jesus II who had caught them on Day 1 in a hotly debated re-row; they will be wondering what could have been, since if that had not happened they might’ve had a good crack at FaT II.

Churchill and King’s both spooned, leaving Selwyn to uphold the honour of the combined boathouses by going up three and breaking into the first division. In the second half of the top division, there has been plenty of movement as three crews secured their blades in the last race of the day.

Robinson, Christ’s and Girton all bumped before Grassy Corner, leaving them in 9^th, 11^th and 13^th position, respectively. With a lot of crews parked on First Post Corner and in the Gut, Emma and their pursuers Catz had a tricky line to take around the bend. Emma succeeded in steering the corner but Catz, living up to the nickname “lolCatz”, did not and smashed into the Tit Hall crew parked on the outside of the bend at full race pace, as seen in this video (skip to 4:04).

httpvh://youtu.be/FCVs111HZR0?t=4m4s

Their bowman’s back looks like it took quite a beating and Catz denied themselves blades with this mishap, but most importantly no one was too badly beaten up in the incident. Catz eventually managed to untangle themselves and restarted their race but Emma had gotten too far ahead and rowed over comfortably to save themselves from spoons.

At the top of the division, Queens’ finally got their bump on FaT on the third attempt, catching them on the Reach after what both crews will probably agree has been an excellent few days’ rivalry. The top three remain unchanged again, with Caius rowing away from Downing after they closed to inside station at Grassy Corner. 

Caius rowing away from Downing to retain the headship

It’s been an excellent few days of racing, with the weather playing along admirably for once. The term will now wind down for most College rowers except those training for the Head of the River Race in London, and thoughts turn towards the Henley Boat Races at the end of this month, and The Boat Race next month.

You can see how all the action unfolded live here and podcasts of the races can be downloaded here 

Round-ups of the other days are available too: Day One, Day Two, Day Three, Day Four