It was the final day of bumps, the weather was glorious compared to yesterday’s grey rain, and therefore so were our moods! We felt optimistic as we gathered in the boat house and, in anticipation of success, took our crew photo. We set off in high spirits, Robert stylishly sporting my rucksack so that I could make a quick swap out of the boat post race. Having been bumped the previous three days, we agreed that we would not give up and this would be the day we rowed over. With Jesus behind us and Catz behind them, we hoped that we could hold off Jesus long enough for Catz to bump them, and we were relatively confident that with a strong start we could manage this. We marshalled rather closer to the starting canon than the day before, in what was described as a rather difficult starting spot due to strong currents. The race started well and there was a good amount of distance between us and Jesus, and it looked like Catz might be gaining on them. However, soon disaster struck – Catz fell behind and Jesus began to get closer. We kept pushing on but were bumped at grassy, however this was the furthest point we had managed to row to all week! We were all disappointed with the outcome, but despite winning our spoons, we can be happy with the small success that every day we came in with a renewed attitude, and every day we rowed just that little bit further before being bumped. For a crew of mostly novices, I can only see us going up in strength next term, and making May bumps something to be proud of.
Tilly Farmery, 6