Corpus Christi College Boat Club (Cambridge) - History

History

Corpus Christi benefited greatly when the Lent and May Bumps became separate events in 1887. The 1st VIII started 3rd in the first Lent Bumps in 1887 and managed to take the headship that year. They did again in 1891, but fell away into the 2nd division thereafter, although rising as high as 6th in 1953. Due to how the May Bumps start order was derived in 1887, Corpus started relatively low down and has since spent all of its time in or around the 2nd division. To date, 1887 and 1891 are the only headships Corpus has achieved. A women's crew first appeared in 1984 and has spent most of their early years in the 2nd division of both the Lents and Mays, briefly making the 1st division in the 1987 Lents.

In the bumps, a periodic shortage of well-trained crews has meant Corpus is prone to yo-yo. In the extreme cases, winning blades one year followed by spoons the next. For example in the 2005 Mays, the 1st women's VIII made their first bump since 1997. They had also only managed one bump in the Lents since 1997; a run of bad form which saw them drop to the middle of the 3rd division in both competitions. In the 2006 Lents, however, both male and female 1st VIIIs made 4 bumps, thus winning their blades. This was followed the same year in the Mays by the women's 1st VIII winning their second set of blades that year and the men's 2nd VIII moving up 9 places over the four days. More recently, in 2011, the women won their blades at Lents and the Men won theirs at Mays.