Rain-sodden Emmanuel and Caius head the field

Cambridge May Bumps 1999 - Report by David Reid

The final day of the bumps saw terrible conditions. The torrential rain lashed the crews, while spectators huddled like penguins under umbrellas or sat in their cars trying to catch glimpses through foggy windows.

Caius had set up a couple of marquees in their meadow at the start of the Long Reach, and their supporters had good reason to celebrate as Caius continued what they had down since Wednesday, to row over head in dominant fashion.

A strong Jesus VIII put up a good race but had lost ground by Ditton corner and never really looked to be in contention for the coveted Headship.

1st & 3rd completed the podium positions to leave LMBC trailing in their wake.

Emmanuel completed their spectacular series of bumps to win their blades and finish in 5th position, a feat made all the more remarkable by the inclusion of only one University rower. Elsewhere, Trinity Hall produced yet again another solid crew who managed to maintain their diginty, despite their Wednesday upset.

Emmanuel Ladies continued to dominate their field, and richly deserved to win back the headship that they lost two years ago. They really differentiated between themselves and the rest of the field by leading Newnham round Ditton Corner by over three lengths. The wake may have been already settling as Newnham followed, but they were surely tired after bumping Jesus, LMBC and Pembroke. Caius Ladies matched their men's performance with blades to finish third.

Overall Caius Boat Club had an excellent Mays, as their Women's second boat moved up seven places thanks to an overbump on Catz II. Their third boat also won blades while all their men's crews moved up the rankings. The exception to this was Cauis Men's 5th who rowed over for four days at the bottom of the 6th division to give the bumps charts a nice 'black-&-blue book end' look! I canonly assume that Caius Boat club dinner was one hell of a blast.

The bumps bore forth its usual fruit of comedy, my favourite this year is the way that Pembroke 2nd Men bumped on Wednesday, double overbumped on Thursday, then choked to drop two places on Friday and Saturday. Magdelene and Robinson's women swapped tit-for-tat bumps and bumps-back over the last threedays, an unusual occurrence in the 1st division.

But now they will all be drying out from their Suicide Sunday hangovers and looking forward to May Week, while the rest of us poor unfortunates are bound to our desks in unair-conditioned muggy offices with nothing to keep us company except Rachel's Webpage.