St Catharine's College Boat Club

So Bumps has come to an end again, with a punchy and powerful performance in a fun but ultimately unsuccessful contest against Churchill M1.  We pushed hard, but technically were far from our best, and Churchill slowly gained on us all the way.  Their first whistles were optimistic, but by first post corner they were beginning to creep up on us, and after an exciting race down Plough Reach the 'bump' (which was actually a blade clash as we took the outside line around Ditton and they kept the racing line, coming up alongside us for a few tense seconds) happened at the beginning of the Long Reach.  Still, we stuck it out for a long time and can hold our heads high.  This crew will all still be here next year, so plenty of opportunities for revenge then!

On day three of this year's Mays campaign W2 started characteristically lively and positive. Having shaken off the nerves of day one and after a strong row over yesterday we were hungry for a bump - “Selwyn for dinner!” The race plan was much the same as yesterday - we would row no harder than day one, and as smart as day two. Pressure from Pembroke behind was always going to be strong as they were up-2, but we were chasing a down-2 Selwyn, and their colluding made us even more determined - we were hopeful for a quick bump. All our hard work paid off, we pushed hard and bumped about halfway along first post reach - the first Catz bump of Mays 2016!

Tomorrow we are being chased by Selwyn and once again, chasing Jesus. 

There are half a dozen 'could haves' and 'would haves' I could mention, but ultimately none of them make any difference.  Because Bumps is Bumps there can be crews all round that you are competitive against, and you can never get a chance to match up against any of them.  It took Magdalene about twice as long as Selwyn, but the bump was inevitable; at least thanks to intelligent coxing on both sides there was no damage done and we were able to clear in time for the crews behind to race through unobstructed.  On Saturday Magdalene will undoubtedly take out King's quickly and leave us nothing to chase, but we expect a good race with Churchill and are looking forward to the challenge.

Today we started at the top of division 2, with Selwyn W1 chasing us. Inside knowledge told us they were going to go out hard, and they did. As per usual they had a whistle on us from the get-go. However as Jonny always says “even three whistles is not a bump”. Whistling was coming from their coach left, right and centre and before we knew it was unclear who was where. But we kept our heads in the boat and after a restart along plough reach, that was the final push we needed. They began to crumble. Even with a cheeky crab from number 5 we were gone and within moments of the final push they were bumped out by Fitz at the top of the reach. With the two crews behind Fitz also bumping out, it allowed Catz W1 to cruise as the top crew of their division, even if it was only div 2!

The row over in division 1 as the sandwich boat was an expected result. With Magdelene W1 bumping Kings W1 in virtually the same place as us the day before and absolute carnage up ahead, this left us with only Girton W1, 10 places above, to try to bump. It wasn’t looking like an over-over-over-bump today!

So the chase for the bump against Kings continues ...

Bumps is usually fun, but rarely fair and sometimes brutal.  Today we should have had a chance to bump back on Emma, with a slow Christ's crew behind us offering no threat and if no bump today a good chance on King's tomorrow.  Unfortunately, however, on Day One Selwyn managed to get an overbump, almost unheard of in First Division, on Christ's, and catapulted themselves up the table to just behind us.  We weren't too worried, because Selwyn talk a lot but rarely back it up with results, and we knew we could improve on yesterday's row.  But on this occasion we should have been worried; Selwyn were obviously scared of Magdalene behind them, and set off like a rocket for a 'fly or die' attempt.  We didn't even have a chance to respond and were bumped just after the motorway bridge.  Worst of all, although our concession was instantaneous Selwyn completely failed to hold it up and caused significant damage to our boat, not in the initial bump, but 5-10 seconds later when they still hadn't tried to stop, as well as shunting our bow pair deep into the overhanging thorn bushes.  We're just glad no one was hurt.