got Spooned in the Lent Bumps

To say, the past few weeks were quite intensive rowing wise...well it was pretty much all - apart from going to lectures - what I was doing. Almost every weekday we were at the boat house by 6:40am and puddled up and down the Cam for a good two hours. Just to be beaten four times out of four races in the Lent Bumps: that is being bumped by another College team. For those of you who are not familiar with the Bumps races, here is a little introduction. It took off in the 1820s and became a high spectator event. The whole point is that the teams line up after each other (one and a half boat lengths apart) and on the gun they start chasing one another up the river, with the goal to catch the boat rowing in front and eventually bump into them physically. The distance is set at 2.7 km, but most of the time there is a Bump before rowing over. Because the river is so narrow, this is the only way to get most or all of the College teams rowing and competing.

This year Fitz had two mens VIII and one womans VIII racing. I was rowing in the second mens VIII. Last year our team won a blade (a dedicated oar with the names of the rowers painted on it, nice to put on the wall) by bumping four times, but this year it was devastating, we earned a Spoon (a wooden spoon:) instead of a blade by being bumped four times, which is the opposite. The mens 1st did quite well, they got three bumps, the girls ended up the same as we did...spooned :))))

Anyway it was worth taking part, I needed the exercise and helped me get up in the mornings and not sleep in. There is a similar race coming up in June, the May Bumps (?), but I'm not sure if I'll be continuing, hence cricket season is almost here and wouldn't want to miss that...