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Message board > Members' Opinion Polls > Members' poll: Which boat performed best in the Bumps?

Which boat performed best in the Bumps?

Not mathematically but achievementally

1st Men		10%

1st Women		10%

2nd Men		77%

2nd Women		0%

3rd Men		0%

3rd Women		0%

4th Men		0%

4th Women		0%

5th Men		0%

Atlantic Prince		3%

Total: 39 members' votes

by Erica - Sun 19th Jun 2005, 9:12pm

M2 clearly performed best in terms of actual achievement, but M1 were very unlucky not to go up 3...

by dw229 - Sun 19th Jun 2005, 11:22pm

Surprised it's such a whitewash at the moment - I thought the girls did marvellously well and could easily have bladed. Sadly my 2nd VIII allegiances swayed my vote... :)

by Richard - Mon 20th Jun 2005, 12:50am

dw229 said: Surprised it's such a whitewash at the moment - I thought the girls did marvellously well and could easily have bladed. Sadly my 2nd VIII allegiances swayed my vote... :)

Indeed, if it weren't for Catz being so slow, then blades were definitely on the cards (again!)

The Women are also in their highest position since the Women's Mays were first rowed in VIIIs in 1990 (they were previously rowed in IVs) and the start order was re-jigged. The 1st Women's IV has been as high as 6th, but that occured when there were fewer women rowing in the University as a whole.

by Tom C - Mon 20th Jun 2005, 12:51pm

The 1st men and women could both have acheived a higher finish position with a little bit more speed on the day. The 2nd men didn't really have any chance of getting selwyn, so their result was best possible. And bumping caius is always good.

by Amelia - Wed 22nd Jun 2005, 10:38am

Tom C said: The 1st men and women could both have acheived a higher finish position with a little bit more speed on the day.

I disagree. Closing to almost half a length before the motorway bridge when the other crew bumps out is just really really bad luck. If we'd have been any closer to them, we would have been obstructed, and ended up with a technical rowover anyway.

I reckon the only thing which could have resulted in a higher finish position would have been Catz being faster/Selwyn slower/a triple overbump.

by RTT - Wed 22nd Jun 2005, 11:05am

Amelia said: Closing to almost half a length before the motorway bridge...

Dyson and I sparred with Selwyn in the pair and hit them in just under 150m. LMBC were the same speed as us (7:13 cf. our 7:11 at The Met.) and would therefore have hit them. It is doable, but you have to a) race the weaker sex, or b) be more than just a bit faster.

by Under-achiever? - Wed 22nd Jun 2005, 11:30am

Amelia said: I reckon the only thing which could have resulted in a higher finish position would have been Catz being faster/Selwyn slower/a triple overbump.

Quadruple overbump on Girton I think.. Point is, whether it's our fault or not, we didn't perform _"achievementally"_. If we'd performed achievementally relative to our speed, we'd've gone up...lots.. Still, we have pots and points to fuel our wanky self-congratulation [thankfully, or else how would we stay this arrogant..?! :D]
Though I spose in the scheme of things, in the last couple of years we have achieved a lot compared to the achievement of the women's club in the past. Long may it continue!
n.b That day was also probably our worst start, so if we'd got a good start, maybe just a little bit faster. :)

by Amelia - Wed 22nd Jun 2005, 12:41pm

I wasn't debating the fact that the second men had performed the best - I agree wholeheartedly that they did, and they should be congratulated. I was merely suggesting that given the speeds of the crews we chased, realistically up 3 was the best we could have done.

by Erica - Wed 22nd Jun 2005, 1:10pm

Under-achiever? said: If we'd performed achievementally relative to our speed, we'd've gone up...lots..

Yes, exactly; I reckon (pessimistically) we'd be somewhere around 5th-7th on the river at that rate. But bumps isn't just about how good you are one year... there wasn't the option of bumping up more than we did due to a slow Catz crew and the only other possibility being a quadruple overbump on Girton (and if they were slow enough for that to be even in consideration they would have been caught before first post themselves).

If M1 had performed similarly I think they'd be up a few too. That's bumps for you :o(

by Ingers - Wed 22nd Jun 2005, 10:53pm

Amelia said: I disagree. Closing to almost half a length before the motorway bridge when the other crew bumps out is just really really bad luck.

But it is not completely impossible to still bump. FaT II bumped Sidney I _before_ the motorway bridge in 1999 from a similar start position. It is certainly unfortunate that you need to be that much better but it is not exclusively bad luck. What _is_ bad luck is having the crew 2 in front of you write their boat off on the way down to the start as happened to me in 1996. Then in 1997 the crew 2 in front of us failed to make it to the start on time, but luckily Clare IV made such a pig's ear of their start that we got them before they'd rowed the requisite 2.5 lengths. Oh the joys of lower boats...

by Lilie - Thu 23rd Jun 2005, 2:13am

we probably would have got them before or just under the motorway bridge. Catz were THAT bad. pretty awesome getting a crew before they row past station though, hehe!