There is nothing quite like Oxford bumps racing. Thirteen boats powering down the river in the hope of evading those behind and bumping the one ahead, delivers unparalleled elation, exasperation, and sometimes sheer chaos! Torpids 2022 delivered it all once again, as the Jesus College Boat Club reports.

 

Preparation for this first round of bumps racing has been JCBC’s focus throughout the academic year so far. In Michaelmas term we began to build our fitness, work on technique, and train up a wave of novices. This last point was especially crucial to rebuilding the club after the challenges of covid-19. This year, just seven of our rowers had experienced bumps racing before and a great many only picked up an oar for the first time in October. Our preparation continued into Hilary with a week’s camp on the Tideway in January that enabled us to forge cohesive crews with extended stretches of paddling simply not possible on the Isis. Our thanks must again go to the support of those alumni and Thames Rowing Club who made this possible. On returning to Oxford, the squad then ramped up the intensity of training to approach peak performance come 7^th Week.

 

We were pleased to enter four crews into Torpids this year: two men’s Torpids, a Women’s Torpid, and a 2^nd Women’s composite crew together with our cervine friends at Hertford College.

The week brought all the highs and lows that you’d expect. Despite a very strong row for a crew with little training time together, our composite crew failed to row on and qualify for a spot in the Torpids start order. For the three crews that made it to the bunglines, a rollercoaster of a week followed. The Men’s 2^nd Torpid had a particularly tough draw in a mix of 1^st boats and top-end 2^nd boats in Division Four. The crew gave it their absolute all every day, and were became quicker and slicker every day but were unable to hold off the competition. Whatever the bumps chart may look like, they should be very proud of their spoons!

 

For our 1^st boats it was an extremely successful few days, with both crews bumping up to finish the week higher than they began. In fact, with bumps on three days for both boats, all that came between JCBC and blades were a couple of unfortunate moments. On Day 1, the Women’s First Torpid lost its rudder, leading to a loss of steering and a limp back to the boathouse as the remaining boats in the division streamed past.

 

After this freak incident, it would have been easy for the crew to lose heart. Instead, they bounced back instantly and asserted themselves on the competition, forcing their way back into Division One as Sandwich Boat on Day 2, before two rapid bumps of New and Trinity on the final two days of the week.

 

For our Men, Day 1 saw an impressive double over-bump as Jesus caught St John’s in front of the boathouse. Day 2 was similarly dramatic as a bump on New College was all but secured when New caught LMH and cleared the racing line. Jesus’ pursuit of LMH was fierce but after being halted by a “crab” (blade stuck in the water), they remained just out of reach in a tense chase to the line. The next day the crew came back and finished the job, flying off the start to catch LMH within 500m. Day 4 saw a near carbon copy of this bump with Queen’s as the victim.

In all, JCBC had a fantastic week’s racing and some brilliant success for our first boats. It was brilliant to get back to the first full club involvement in bumps since 2019, and all the crews enjoyed the experience immensely. We can’t wait to get back out there and pick up where we left off in Summer Eights!

Thanks to all those who came down to support us and followed our coverage on social media. Your support means a lot to us and motivated us to empty everything into the races.

 

Final Results:

W1: +2 places (9^th on the river). Bumped by Green Templeton and Balliol. Bumped Green Templeton, Balliol, New, Trinity

W2: Failed to Row On

M1: +3 places (15^th on the river). Bumped St John’s, Lady Margaret Hall, Queen’s

M2: -6 places (47^th on the river). Bumped by St Hilda’s M1, Keble M2, New M2, St Benet’s M1, University M2, Balliol M2

With thanks to members of JCBC, friends and family for sharing their photography.