Bumps Race - Races

Races

Both Oxford and Cambridge Universities host two sets of university bumps races per year, one in early spring and one in early summer, each lasting four days. At Cambridge these are called "Lent Bumps" and "May Bumps" respectively, while at Oxford they are "Torpids" and "Summer Eights". The races are for eights (i.e. eight rowers with a cox steering), each representing one of the university's various colleges. Most colleges enter several crews.

In both Oxford and Cambridge, there are also separate Town Bumps races in which local clubs compete. Oxford's races, run by the City of Oxford Rowing Club (CORC), are open to all comers and are raced in fours, all races taking place on the same day. Cambridge's races are run under the auspices of the Cambridgeshire Rowing Association (CRA) and are run exclusively in eights and take place over 4 consecutive days in July. There are typically four men's divisions with 17 boats (plus a sandwich boat) in each division, and two women's divisions. The bumps are fiercely contested, and the ideal that the races are for local rowers can lead to disputes over whether crews are 'legal'.

The United Hospitals boat club holds a bumps race over three days each May after exams on the River Thames, racing from upstream of Kew Bridge adjacent to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew ending at the UL Boathouse at Chiswick. Traditionally involving only medical school crews, in recent years alumni and non-medical crews have been allowed to enter as invitational crews.

Eton College, where bumping races were first devised and then carried to Oxford and Cambridge by ex-pupils, still has an annual bumping race. It takes place over four evenings, in early May. There is usually one boat entered per house, and one boat entered by College. Because of the dangerous nature of the sport, only fours are used, and only the second and third years may row. On the fourth evening there are prizes for the leaders of the chart and also a 'Bumping Cup' for the boat who has made the most bumps over the four nights. The event is marshalled by senior rowers and rowing prefects called The Monarch. The crew training is mainly pupil driven. Previously races were run every day until there were no more bumps (i.e. until they were nominally in speed order). This historical set-up could lead to weeks of racing and was therefore abandoned in favour of a four-day version more than 100 years ago.