1st Men's VIII - May Bumps 2009

We went into the May Bumps knowing that we have improved well since the Champs Head and were looking forward to comparing our boat speed to that of the other crews around us.

Day one saw us chasing King's who were pursuing Caius II. We had a solid start but Caius were so much slower that King's that the bump happened in front of us shortly after Grassy. Once we had gone around Ditton, the crew gave it everything to see whether an overbump was possible. Rowing down the reach, we found a solid rhythm and opened up a large gap between us and the chasing crew, Downing II. However, the 6 lengths that separated us and Selwyn off the start proved to be too large and we wound it down at Peter's Post to row-over comfortably.

On day two, we were confident that we would be able to take out Caius II if we approached the race the right way. After our start, we settled into a really solid, punchy rhythm which we sustained through the Gut to close within half a length off Caius II. After Grassy we put in a big push, bumping Caius very hard outside the Plough.

The next day we chased Selwyn who we knew King's had bumped by the railings. We were prepared for a long race as we knew from practice that our rhythm was sustainable for the entire course. Approaching the race in the same way as the previous day, we quickly closed to within half a length off Selwyn by Grassy. A canvas separated us down Plough Reach but around Ditton, a slight problem caused us to be pushed into the bank. Once we had recovered, we found ourselves separated by 3/4 of a length from Selwyn. We settled back into our rhythm, closing the gap quickly to bump Selwyn before the Railway bridge after they had put up a strong fight.

On the final day of Bumps we found ourselves chasing LMBC II and expected a similar race to that against Selwyn. However, we did not quite come together on that day, remaining only on station with Selwyn for the first half of the race. Our poor performance that day meant that LMBC II just cleared off, opening a gap that we were never able to close. It was gutting to finish an otherwise good week with a row that clearly did not reflect the standard the crew had achieved previously.

Overall, the first boat performed very well, rising two places and finishing third in the second division. This was a good finish to a great year and those in the crew not graduating look forward to sort out some unfinished business next year.