Torpids & Eights - Present Day
Torpids, held in Hilary Term, was switched from 6th week to 7th week in 1996 in
the hope of better river conditions, or at least an extra week's
training.
Those rowing for any of the six University crews [
Men's Blue Boat
(OUBC) and Reserves (Isis),
Women's Blue Boat (OUWBC) and
Reserves (Osiris),
Men's Lightweights (OULRC),
Women's Lightweights (OUWLRC)
]
are banned from competing, but the main difference compared with Eights
is that crews getting bumped have to continue to row, making slow crews, or
crews getting entangled, liable to be bumped many times and resulting in some
spectacular descents. There are currently 6 men's and 5 women's divisions in
Torpids, of which the bottom two divisions of each are `Rowing On'
divisions with crews having to compete against new entries for their places
each year.
Eights Week, held in 5th Week of Trinity Term, remains the major college
rowing event of the year in terms of rowing standards, numbers of participants,
and attracting the crowds. The current state of affairs (1999) is that there
are 9 men's and 5 women's divisions in Eights, again with the with crews in the
lowest two men's and women's divisions required to `Row On' for their
places. Each division has 12 boats except for the lowest, which
has 13 (there being no need to reserve a bungline
for the Sandwich
Boat). Including the crews attempting to Row On,
approximately 1500 students participate in Eights each year.
Bumps rules - present day
For those not familiar with this peculiar form of racing, the procedure is that
each division lines up with the coxes holding ropes
attached to the bank,
setting their starting positions at 130 feet apart (i.e. with about
1 1/2 lengths of clear water between them). A cannon is
fired and the boats set off; the goal is to catch the boat
ahead while avoiding being caught by the boat behind. When a `bump' occurs,
either through actual contact between boats or by a cox
conceding that a bump is inevitable by raising an arm, both boats drop out of
the race. Crews involved in bumps exchange starting positions in the division
the next day, while crews reaching the end of the course on the
Isis without incident start in the same place as the previous day.
The
divisions are rowed in reverse order during the day, so that the crew finishing
top of its division then starts as the `Sandwich Boat' at
the bottom (no.13) of the next division; the boat finishing 13th in each
division then returns to row at the top of the lower division the next day.
The distance from start to finish post is just over a mile for the Sandwich
Boat, and about 500 m shorter for the crew
starting on bungline 1.
A good
crew will gain a bump every day, and such success is usually rewarded with the
presentation of their `blades', suitably illuminated with a
record of their achievement. The ultimate goal of any College is to finish
`Head of the River', at the top of
Division I. At the end of racing, the supporters of the
Head crew carry an old boat through the streets from the river
back to the College, and ceremonially burn it in the quad.