Rowers from St. John’s College dominated University Fours with a boat in every final, narrowly beating Jesus to a university medal in both the men’s and women’s events.

The Lady Margaret Boat Club of St John's College (or 'Maggie', for short) advanced a crew to the final of every race in all four divisions (M1, M2, W1 and W2) but were unable to replicate the achievements of 2016 and win every category outright. Caius won both second divisions.

The annual University Fours competition is one of only three events at which a university medal is up for grabs, and is the only one rowed in ‘fours’ (four rowers and a cox). While not as idiosyncratic as the infamously chaotic Bumps, the multi-day knockout event nevertheless puts its own spin on the regatta format, with boats starting 120m apart, racing to different start and finish posts simultaneously.

In Wednesday’s heats, which were plagued by winds gusting to 35kmph, men’s crews from Kings and Homerton both unexpectedly defeated college-rowing giants Magdalene (third in May Bumps) and Pembroke (fourth in May Bumps) by margins of just two seconds. Wednesday’s hotly anticipated race between old rivals Maggie and Caius was surprisingly one-sided, with Maggie commandingly opening up a 22-second lead on the May Bumps leaders.

Highlights from Thursday's quarter-finals included Jesus W1’s setting the fastest time for the women's competition this year in their race against Magdalene, and Caius W1’s close-fought victory over Pembroke.

Friday’s semi-finals saw the men of Emmanuel and Kings and the women of Churchill and Caius unable to outpace the Maggie and Jesus crews.

In the women’s second division, various ‘scratches’ (drop-outs after the draw, but before the races) had left only Maggie W2 and Caius W2 crews in the competition. Maggie M2’s defeat of Emmanuel M2, along with Caius M2’s defeat of their own M3 resulted in two second-division Maggie-Caius finals. Despite close races, the Caius second boats won on both occasions, denying Maggie a clean sweep of wins.

On Friday evening, both first division finals saw Maggie face Jesus down the two kilometre course into the setting sun. Both races went down to the wire, with all crews providing prodigious displays of rowing skill that would have made either club worthy winners. However, it was the scarlet blades of Lady Margaret that triumphed in both races. The women’s crew won the competition in 8 minutes and 10 seconds, with a margin of just one second, and the Lady Margaret men reached the finishing posts in a mere 7 minutes and 5 seconds, only two seconds before Jesus.

Despite these victories, it is unlikely that Maggie’s rowers will be able to rest on their laurels. The December Fairbairn Cup, run by Jesus, is a race where the hosts tend to dominate (they have won a category there every year since 2017). One thing seems pretty clear if the infamous oracle of the Cam Rowbridge is anything to go by: Maggie “needs to watch their back."