Lent Bumps 1998

The Lent Bumps 1998 were a series of rowing races held at Cambridge University from Tuesday 24 until Saturday 28 February 1998. The event was run as a bumps race and is one of a series of Lent Bumps which have been held annually in late-February or early March since 1887. See Lent Bumps for the format of the races. In 1998, a total of 121 crews took part (69 men's crews and 52 women's crews), with around 1000 participants in total. Several thousand spectators came to watch, particularly on the Saturday.

Due to pressures from the University authorities, the 1998 Lent Bumps was run over 5 days, rather than 4 days, which was the norm since the end of World War II. In the new format, each division had one day off racing, with the 1st divisions missing the first day, 2nd divisions missing the second day etc., which reduced the amount of time needed to complete the racing each day and thus reduce the need for many students to miss lectures. Every division raced on the last day, but as this was a Saturday with fewer lectures held in the University, this wasn't as big a problem. This format, introduced in 1998, has been used at every Lent Bumps since.