Bumps race
Bumps racing in fours is also the format of inter-house rowing at Eton College and Shrewsbury School.
Few[quantify] rowers worldwide use rivers as narrow as the Cam or the Isis,[citation needed] but bumps races are also contested elsewhere.
[2] The fact the racing was conducted in eight-oared boats gave rise to the event being known as Eights.
[3] The practice began with the two colleges racing upstream from Iffley Lock to a finishing line just short of Folly Bridge.
[6] The starting positions are usually marked by a rope or chain attached to the bank, the other end of which is held by each boat's cox.
Under the current Cambridge rules, to overtake merely requires the pursuing boat to draw alongside the other boat's bow ball; side by side is good enough, and in the early part of the course a bump is deemed to occur when the bowball of the chasing crew passes the cox of the crew being chased.
[7] Generally, and at Oxford during Eights Week, once a bump has occurred both crews pull over to the river bank and take no further part in that race.
To avoid this, the cox of the boat being bumped can concede as soon as slight physical contact occurs or even once it is inevitable.
[11] Overbumps, and variants thereof, are most common in the lower divisions where the quality of the crews varies greatly year-on-year.
A more attainable goal for most crews, apart from moving up towards the headship, is to bump up a place (or more) on each of the four days.
[13] At Cambridge, the most successful college boat club over the four days of the May Bumps is awarded the Pegasus Cup, sponsored by Milton Brewery.
In both Oxford and Cambridge, there are also separate Town Bumps races in which local clubs compete.
[15] The bumps are fiercely contested, and the ideal that the races are for local rowers can lead to disputes over whether crews are 'legal'.
[16] The United Hospitals boat club holds a bumps race over three days each May after exams on the River Thames, racing from upstream of Kew Bridge adjacent to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew ending at the UL Boathouse at Chiswick.
[17] Imperial College School of Medicine Boat Club (ICSMBC) are the current holders of headship.
On the fourth evening there are prizes for the leaders of the chart and also a 'Bumping Cup' for the boat who has made the most bumps over the four nights.
This historical set-up could lead to weeks of racing and was therefore abandoned in favour of a four-day version more than 100 years ago.
