Murray Edwards College Boat Club

Having been bumped by Caius the day previously, we all arrived at the boathouse keen to prove ourselves. Our first priority was to get a revenge bump on Caius, and failing that, to row over (with Fitz positioned behind us). With sunny weather and not too much of a headwind, the conditions were good and we were all in high spirits.

When the canon sounded, we leapt into our start sequence, which was much more together and controlled than the day before – the cannons seem less scary the second time round… Clare (our coach) reminded us to ignore at the boat behind as it’s much further away than it looks! Some whistles early on around Grassy meant that Fitz were close, and it wasn’t clear whether we would be able to hold them off. With the two boats both ahead of us and behind having bumped out, the only option was to row over and make sure Fitz didn’t catch us. We added some up 2s, then put more power down on the Reach and, by the finish line, had left Fitz with no chance of catching us.

This result was a huge morale boost, as we knew that we could do a powerful start and settle into a good rhythm for the whole course, and hopefully get a bump the following day.

Gina Edney, 4

Finally, the day was here – the first day of Lent Bumps and the first Bumps ever for most of our crew. Buzzing with excitement and anticipation, we paddled down to the marshalling point with the knowledge that Caius would be chasing us. As the 1 minute cannon sounded, Alice (our cox) and Clare (our coach) reminded us to keep our heads in the boat before pushing us off. Before we knew it, the start was upon us, and we leapt out of the start at an unbelievably powerful rate 44! A somewhat dodgy cox-box (and admittedly the sight of Caius slowly closing in) got in the way of our stride, with us only managing to settle on rate 37, but we held on as well as we could. Eventually, the whistles started to sound and the excitement got the best of us. Caius bumped us and we pulled in to congratulate them and catch our breath before paddling home. Our first taste of Bumps as a crew was over, and while we had been bumped, we rowed well, and were ready to take on the rest of the week with a clearer head.

Anastasia Price, bow