"Passion, spirit, and teamwork": ingredients for Wolfson's continuing rowing success

May Bumps: Captain’s Report 

By Nancy Karreman

Following the teams’ excellent performance in Lent, this term has been another really successful one on the Cam, with Women’s 1 achieving blades and thrilling rows from all crews.

Our combined results from Lent and May Bumps campaigns stands at an amazing +18! All of our crews rowed with so much passion and the week was filled with incredible spirit and teamwork.

It's hard to emphasise how much work goes into preparing for Bumps alongside classes, exams, and dissertations. We are so lucky to have had such an incredible team of people rowing with us this year, and I can't wait to see what happens next year. 

Overall, the club was +6. To give you a sense of what that means, how all the teams performed, including overall places gain/lost for the campaign for each boat, here’s short summary:

Women’s Boat 2 (result: +0)

W2 followed on from their Lent Bumps success by once again qualifying for Bumps. A fast start by Hughes in front of them on Day 1 meant they rowed the whole course without a chance to bump.

Day 2 saw W2 catch Peterhouse W3 so quickly off the start that our bank party didn't even have time to shout more than a few words of encouragement! Crews ahead of W2 bumped out early on Day 3, so once again the crew rowed over, gaining more than half the gap to the crew at the head of the division.

On the last day disaster struck and W2 was bumped by Churchill W3, but they can be extremely proud of a strong and persistent Bumps performance this term. 

Men’s Boat 2 (result: +3)

M2 started this term in the M4 division and provided a sneak peek of success to come with a lightning fast bump of Sidney Sussex M2 on Day 1.

M2 rowed over on Day 2 after a super-blading Lucy Cav M1 cleared the field ahead. On Day 3, M2 reversed the men's fortunes with respect to Girton and bumped their M2 boat.

Wolfson finished the final day strong with a well-executed bump on Pembroke M3. Wolfson M2 is a prime case of the adage that while lucky crews blade, good crews go up 3. 

Women’s Boat 1 (result: +4)

W1 finally achieved the dream of blades this term after a disappointing row over on the last day of Lent Bumps prevented a perfect +4 score.

The boat once more sought revenge on Caius W2 for bumps inflicted in 2022 and quickly caught them just before the first corner. Day 2 saw a slightly longer row to the middle of the gut, where W1 bumped Medwards W1.

Next up were Emmanuel W2, bumped by Wolfson on Grassy Corner. The final day saw the crew bump out at almost exactly the same spot, catching Darwin W1 just before the end of the bend to achieve blades. 

Men’s Boat 1: (result: -1)

M1 was in for a tough campaign this year, surrounded by boats of a very similar speed. The first two days saw the crew row over strongly and refusing to be bumped by a closing Girton M1.

Despite nearly crashing on a bend earlier on the course, a very strong Corpus M1 sadly was able to catch up with Wolfson under the Railway Bridge and bumped. The last day saw M1 again deny Girton a bump, closing off their campaign with another well-executed row over.

Though this campaign did not see M1 repeat their Lent blades, the crew was proud of their strong performance and maintaining their position in the top third of Division 2. 

Day-to-day breakdown of results

Day 1:

W2 row over

M2 bump

W1 bump

M1 row over

Day 2:

W2 bump

M2 row over

W1 bump

M1 row over

Day 3:

W2 row over

M2 bump

W1 bump

M1 bumped

Day 4:

W2 bumped

M2 bump

W1 bump

M1 row over

What are the “Bumps”?

Taking place across four days, the Cambridge Bumps are one of the largest intra-university sporting competitions across the world. At the start of the races, crews line up - in their finishing order of the previous year - along the river with one and a half boat lengths of clear water between them. On the start signal (the firing of a cannon), they chase each other up the river.

When a bump occurs (when one crew is touched by its chasing crew), they pull over to allow the other crews to continue racing. The next day, all crews involved in a bump swap places and the race is run again. After the days of racing, the aim of the top crews is to be at the "head of the river," i.e. to lead the first division. Lower crews cannot expect to move up this much in four days, but a major goal is to win their "blades" by bumping up every day.

Additionally, the top boat of each lower division (apart from the first division) races at the bottom of the next division (the "sandwich boat") and so a continuous chart can be drawn mapping the progress of all crews.

Support the crews

We are so grateful to receive kind donations from Wolfson members to support the Boat Club. It makes a huge difference to all of the crews.

This year, support from donations enabled us to have paid coaching for all of our boats (instead of the usual arrangement of professional coaching for the top two boats and student coaching for the rest); we competed in Fours Head in London in November; we attended two training camps, one internationally in Portugal in January and a local camp in Earith in April; we sent four crews to the Bumps (not a normal thing for us!); and we successfully funded a new boat for the men's crews, in addition to our usual rota of socials, training, and competitive racing on the Cam. 

If you’d like to help us to continue our success on the water, you can set up a donation on our Regular Giving page. Where the form says, “I would like my gift to support…”. Simply select ‘Other’ in the dropdown menu and type ‘Boat Club’.

Thank you for your support!