The last on-Cam event of the College rowing calendar has drawn to a close, ending another year with the excitement of May Bumps. With the first set of May Bumps dating back to 1877, the annual races – spread over four days from Wednesday 17th to Saturday 21st of June – saw bumps, overbumps, and plenty of dramatic moments. In a testament to the accessibility of rowing within Cambridge’s collegiate environment, 154 crews took part – equivalent to 1386 rowers and coxes – with thousands more lining the bank to cheer on crews. From ‘Ruggers’ crews, who are fresh out of novicing, to Olympians, rowers of all skill levels took to the River Cam.

‘Bumps’ is a set of rowing races where, due to the narrow nature of the River Cam, crews try to hit or ‘bump’ the crew in front of them, before the crew behind catches them. Within each race, 18 crews line up along the riverbank before being pushed off with a long metal pole. As the final cannon fires, each crew has to sprint off at maximum speed, beginning a thrilling race of indeterminate length. This is the true joy of Bumps: each crew must fly off the start, and cling onto that speed as long as possible. The aim of each crew is simple: to hit (or ‘bump’) the crew in front of them before the crew behind them gets the chance to catch them. Once a crew has bumped or been bumped, they clear to the sides of the river to allow for other crews to continue racing.

“Only Caius M1 beat Trinity Hall W1 in a single day of fines - totalling £485!”

While the structure of the race sounds orderly in theory, the name ‘Bumps’ could easily be replaced with ‘Controlled Crashing’ – though occasionally this doesn’t quite work out. Upon arriving at the river for Day 1 of Bumps, I was presented with a sparsely populated Selwyn boat rowing past, with seats 3 and 4 empty. Unsurprised that bumps had already claimed its first equipment sacrifice, the unfortunate 3 and 4 seat rowers explained to me that they had crashed after First Post Corner - with the bows rising high onto the bank - damaging the boat. One of the rowers was even subbing in from Homerton M2 - who had experienced heartbreak after the Getting-On-Race – with CUCBC announcing that they had indeed ‘gotten on’, but were then switched with Peterhouse M4 due to a timing error.

Congratulations must go to Jesus W1 and St John’s Lady Margaret Boat Club M1 (LMBC) for finishing with Headship this year – LMBC fought off a strong Caius crew who reached within ten feet of LMBC on Day 3. Jesus successfully bumped Caius W1 out of headship on Day 2, and maintained a comfortable lead on Day 4 against Trinity Hall W1 – a strong crew who were aiming to blade into headship. For this final race, Trinity Hall rallied an ambitiously large support group – racking up £435 of fines due to their bank party! Only Caius M1 beat Trinity Hall W1 in a single day of fines –totalling £485 due to an excessive bank party and 3 counts of public urination.

But of course, the crew that has received the most attention this week has been Peterhouse M1– stroked by GB’s Gold Medal-winning Olympian Tom Ford. The crew consisted of an additional five Blue Boat rowers, allowing Peterhouse to storm to an impressive +8 by overbumping Downing M1 and Jesus M1 on Days 1 and 3 respectively. Whether or not Peterhouse operated strategically by holding off from bumping St Catharines M1 or Emmanuel M1 is unknown – but regardless, the tactic paid off. Kudos must be given to Caius M1, who held Peterhouse M1 off until halfway down the Long Reach – a true testament to the quality of top college crews.

Bumps is a joyously zero-sum game, with crews rising and falling in equal measure. Peterhouse M1 were not alone in blading, with 14 crews bumping every day. Darwin M1 successfully matched Peterhouse’s +8, following a terrifying double overbump on Magdalene M2 on Wednesday.  Peterhouse M2 (+5), St Edmund’s W1 (+5), Hughes Hall W1 (+6), and Selwyn W2 (+7) all achieved super blades. Falling mightily were 23 crews who achieved Spoons – meaning they were bumped every day – with Magdelene M1 slipping from 2nd to 6th on the river. The spooning Magdalene W2 additionally suffered an overbump, resulting in 6 places lost. It was sadly not a good year for Magdalene – with five crews falling a total of 14 places – but Caius fell even harder, with -19 across six crews, including the loss of Women’s Headship. After a couple of difficult years, St Edmunds stormed to success, with all three of their crews blading, and unofficially winning the Pegasus Cup.

Prior to bumps, there had been significant interest and worry regarding the overlap between May Bumps and Midsummer Fair by CUCBC, Varsity and national newspaper outlets. In response to this, the Cambridge Police Operational Planning Team assured CUCBC that an increase of up to 12 police officers would help limit any anti-social or dangerous behaviour that arose from the Fair. Varsity recently reported a rule change that crews who chose not to race due to safety concerns would only receive a technical bump, instead of losing their place on the river. With the fair reaching its peak on Saturday, it was clear that local businesses were worried, with The Fort St George pub boarded up. While these measures proved effective in allowing bumps to continue as normal (no crews chose not to race), Cambridge Police reported a serious assault on Jesus Green at 8pm on Saturday adjacent to the fair, evidencing that CUCBC were correct to take safety concerns seriously.

Amidst all of this, the spirit of bumps endures. This was my 6th Bumps campaign, and there’s no thrill like sitting at front stops, waiting for the cannon to fire. The chaos, glory and pain of Bumps is what makes it the focal point of Cambridge college sport –and if post-BCD MASH was anything to go off, rowers are enemies only on the river, but friends on the dance floor. CamFM was also fabulous as always – providing exciting, if occasionally confusing, commentary as the races unfolded. I found myself glued to the radio, catching every word, and following every bump with enthusiasm.

Onwards to next year!