St Catharine's College Boat Club

On Wednesday, there was widespread disappointment as freezing temperatures meant that conditions on the towpath had become unsafe, so racing was cancelled halfway through the afternoon, leaving W1 and M1 without their first day of racing and M2 without their second.

Boaties Cambridge-wide waited in suspense for news of the next day's racing.

It was not good. The Beast from the East continued to show its claws as the significantly negative temperatures meant that the compacted ice on the towpath was there to stay. Thursday cancelled. W1, M1 and M3 down another day.

But, on Thursday afternoon, a glimmer of hope. CUCBC announced that they had successfully gained permission from the council for an independent gritting operation to be conducted along the towpath. Boaties mobilised. Bumps had not been cancelled for weather since the great winter of 1963, and we were not about to let the great winter of 2018 produce the same fate. Online groups were set up, emails sent out, tools obtained and a hardy (some might say gritty) team of volunteers descended on the P&E on Thursday evening. The assault began as several hundred boaties from across the college boat clubs joined forces to clear the path by any means necessary. Good progress was made, as a couple of hours' work resulted in a clear path from P&E to the plough. Round 1: 1-0 to the boaties.

Round 2 was similarly successful, with the remainder of the course cleared on Friday morning and the towpath declared safe to use. Alas, the Beast from the East was not done yet and unleashed its secret weapon (its panic kill call if you will). Extremely windy conditions around lunchtime on Friday meant that the first two divisions to race were cancelled, so M2 and W2 lost out on the day's racing. W1 and M1 ploughed on through the storm to finally complete their first day.

The Beast has continued to bite and further snowfall on Friday evening means that the gritters will once again be mobilised over the next 24h to save our beloved bumps. Catz is making a substantial contribution to the collective effort, and there is optimism that tomorrow's predicted tropical temperatures (where did the minus sign go?) and windspeed will mean that these efforts allow every boat a successful final day of racing on Saturday.

Lent Bumps 2018 will no doubt go down in history, thanks to the heroic endeavours of those who would not let a bit of weather stand between them and their sport.

FTW

Pictured: Catz 1st women's curling team