It’s one of the hottest Mays in recorded history. Crews are wearing layers of factor 50, racedesk is wilting under the heat, and the greatest danger to passersby on the towpath isn’t bankriders, but dehydration: Summer Eights has begun.
Compared to the late Torpheads, the weather for this Summer Eights promises an entirely different setting. With the Isis down to steady green flag levels – where it’s safe to navigate for all crews – and with sun predicted for the entire week, rowers and viewers need not fear unexpected downpours. A drop in the heat from 29 degrees average on Thursday to 23 degrees on Friday and Saturday, students can be pleased to know that conditions will be significantly cooler, bringing an easier watching and racing experience, especially for the more popular days.
In the men’s divisions, there were relatively few dramatic changes from the starting to the finishing order, with the vast majority of crews either rowing over or managing to bump the crew ahead/be bumped from the crew behind. However, two particularly radical results are of note: New College M3 deserves plaudits for achieving an overbump on Jesus College, knocking them down into division VI and leapfrogging St Edmund Hall M3 and Green Templeton’s M2. New M3 up three places, overbumping on Jesus College’s M2 to send them down into Div VI. Somerville M2 overbumping on Pembroke M3 to place them at the bottom of Div VI. Given this was the first day of VIII’s, we can expect many of the lower crews, particularly the Beer Boats, to improve in form over the course of the racing week.
In the women’s divisions, there were some more dramatic changes in the finishing order. With Green Templeton College W3 catching Magdalen W4, Worcester W4 overbumped on Anne’s W3 to take 82nd place from them, consigning them to the bottom of the running order.
Two of University College women’s lower boats also had some exceptional results, with W4 achieving a handy 4 crew overbump to demote Pembroke W3 down to division VI and to sit in the same division as the college’s third crew – for the time being. Univ’s W3 managed to overbump Lady Margaret Hall, Mansfield, St Catz, Queens and Peters W2 to jump all the way to the top of division VI, becoming the sandwich boat for division V. A later bump which would have placed them into division V was reversed after it was revealed that Balliol W2’s cox had conceded unusually early out of fear of being actually bumped by St Hilda’s W2, leaving Univ to chase them down but receiving no bump. More impressively, in two of the higher divisions, division IV and III, there were overbumps and large leaps in position here, too, where the contest is likely to be more even and such dramatic results thus unlikely. Brasenose W2 overbumped Regents W1, Lincoln W2 and Worcester W2 to haul themselves towards the middle of Division IV, leaving St John’s W2 facing a lonely row to the coxing stone. Moreover, Catz’ W1 pulled off an audacious bump into division III, leapfrogging Queens and Peters W1.
Considering the proliferation of gambling and betting apps, it’d be folly to round off today’s account without consideration of Bump’s trader, which every good Oxford rower should have. The most bought crews – i.e. those expected to advance the most over eights – on the men’s side were Hilda’s, Hertford, and Worcester M1’s, and on the women’s side St Catz and Balliol’s W1, and also Univ W3. Speaking of Univ, they have entered the most crews this year at a whopping 9 – 5 men’s boats, and 4 women’s crews – only two short of the all-time record set by Oriel in 1990, when more colleges entered, on average, far more crews.
However, today’s racing was pockmarked by tragedy, with both the first men’s and women’s divisions unable to run as eleven police cars, four fire trucks, four ambulances, and a police helicopter descended on the area around Donnington Bridge. Rowers at Longbridge’s boathouse were asked to leave, with rowers and spectators evacuated from Donnington Bridge, a popular viewing point for the racing. Many crews became trapped below the bend in the Isis, commonly known as ‘the Gut’, for a prolonged period before being able to disembark. The bridge has since reopened, and emergency vehicles have cleared the bridge, with reports of a water search.
