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1st & 3rd Trinity II about to bump Caius II to go top of the 2nd division on day 2 of the 2005 May Bumps

The May Bumps (also May Races, Mays) is a rowing race held on the River Cam in Cambridge. The races are open to all college boat clubs from the University of Cambridge, the University Medical and Veterinary Schools, and CCAT Boat Club, the boat club for members of Anglia Ruskin University. The May Bumps takes place over four days in mid-June and is run as a bumps race. The equivalent bumping races at the end of February or start of March are called the Lent Bumps.

The May Bumps 2007 began on 13 June2007 and ran until 16 June2007. The May Bumps 2008 will begin on 11 June2008 and will run until 14 June2008

Structure of the May Bumps

Main article: Bumps race
Downing II getting bumped by Fitzwilliam during the May Bumps 2006.

The races are run in divisions, with 6 divisions for men's crews (referred to as M1, M2, M3....M6) and 5 divisions for women's crews (referred to as W1, W2, W3..W5). The top 5 men's and top 4 women's divisions contain 17 crews each. M6 and W5 each contain only 9 crews. Each crew contains 8 rowers and one coxswain, meaning that a total of 171 crews took part in 2005, with around 1500 participants.

With each division, crews row to the start, pull into the bank, with each crew separated by a distance of about 1½ boat lengths (approximately 30m or 90ft). The coxswain must hold a length of chain fixed to the bank before the starting signal, which is the firing of a cannon. Two warning cannons are fired, one to signal four minutes before the start and another to signal one minute before the start. A third cannon is fired to signal the start of each division.

Once the "go" signal is fired, a crew must attempt to catch up with the crew ahead of it and bump (physically touch or overtake it) before the crew behind does the same to them. A crew which bumps or is bumped must pull to the side of the river to allow other crews to continue racing. A crew which neither bumps the crew ahead nor is bumped by the crew behind before crossing the finishing post is said to have rowed over.

A crew which bumps then swaps places with the crew that it bumped in the following day's racing. A crew which rows over stays in the same position in the following day's racing. If a crew finishes at the top of a division, apart from the first division, then it may row at the bottom of the next division to try and get into that division. This crew is called the sandwich boat. The process is repeated over four days, allowing crews to move up or down in the overall order of boats. The finish order of one year's May Bumps are then used as the starting order of the following year's races.

The ultimate aim is to try and finish Head of the River (also said as gaining the Headship), i.e. 1st position in division 1. This is only realistically possible for crews starting in the top 5 places. For other crews, the aim is to rise at least 4 places to try and set themselves up for an opportunity to take the Headship in future years.

The Pegasus Cup is awarded annually to the most successful college boat club competing in the Cambridge May Bumping Races. The points system is as follows.

"To get a score for each club, calculate the total number of places gained or lost so far by all the boats of that club, multiply these by 12, and divide by the number of boats. A night rowing over as head crew in the 1st division is counted as a gain of one place. In the event of a tie, the club with more boats wins, else the tie stands.

To be eligible a club must have at least one men's and one women's boat (except in the case of single sex colleges where two boats of the same sex may be permitted)."

The winner of the Pegasus Cup in 2007 was Hughes Hall BC.

2007 Finishing positions (1st divisions)

Men's 1st Division

  1. Caius
  2. 1st & 3rd Trinity
  3. Lady Margaret
  4. Trinity Hall
  5. Jesus
  6. St. Catharine's
  7. Churchill
  8. Queens'
  9. Downing
  10. Emmanuel
  11. Pembroke
  12. Clare
  13. Robinson
  14. 1st & 3rd Trinity II
  15. Christ's
  16. Fitzwilliam
  17. Magdalene

Women's 1st Division

  1. Jesus
  2. Pembroke
  3. Emmanuel
  4. Newnham
  5. Caius
  6. Girton
  7. 1st & 3rd Trinity
  8. Trinity Hall
  9. Lady Margaret
  10. Clare
  11. Downing
  12. Queens'
  13. Churchill
  14. Christ's
  15. St. Catharine's
  16. Jesus II
  17. King's

Crews finishing Head of the River

Men's May Bumps (1887 - 2008)

NB. May Bumps were cancelled between 1915 and 1918, and in 1940 due to war.

Women's May Bumps (1974 - 2008)

1887 Trinity Hall 1888 Trinity Hall 1889 3rd Trinity 1890 Trinity Hall
1891 Trinity Hall 1892 Trinity Hall 1893 3rd Trinity 1894 Trinity Hall
1895 Trinity Hall 1896 Trinity Hall 1897 3rd Trinity 1898 1st Trinity
1899 1st Trinity 1900 1st Trinity 1901 3rd Trinity 1902 3rd Trinity
1903 3rd Trinity 1904 3rd Trinity 1905 3rd Trinity 1906 3rd Trinity
1907 Trinity Hall 1908 Trinity Hall 1909 Jesus 1910 Jesus
1911 1st Trinity 1912 Jesus 1913 Jesus 1914 Jesus
1919 3rd Trinity 1920 Jesus 1921 Jesus 1922 Jesus
1923 Pembroke 1924 Jesus 1925 Jesus 1926 Lady Margaret
1927 Jesus 1928 1st Trinity 1929 3rd Trinity 1930 Jesus
1931 Pembroke 1932 Pembroke 1933 Pembroke 1934 Pembroke
1935 Jesus 1936 Jesus 1937 Jesus 1938 Jesus
1939 Jesus 1941 Clare 1942 Clare 1943 Clare
1944 Clare 1945 1st & 3rd Trinity 1946 Trinity Hall 1947 Jesus
1948 Jesus 1949 Clare 1950 Lady Margaret 1951 Lady Margaret
1952 Lady Margaret 1953 Lady Margaret 1954 Lady Margaret 1955 Jesus
1956 Jesus 1957 Jesus 1958 Jesus 1959 Lady Margaret
1960 Lady Margaret 1961 Lady Margaret 1962 Queens' 1963 Queens'
1964 1st & 3rd Trinity 1965 1st & 3rd Trinity 1966 1st & 3rd Trinity 1967 1st & 3rd Trinity
1968 Queens' 1969 Fitzwilliam 1970 Fitzwilliam 1971 Fitzwilliam
1972 Jesus 1973 1st & 3rd Trinity 1974 Lady Margaret 1975 Lady Margaret
1976 Pembroke 1977 Pembroke 1978 Pembroke 1979 Lady Margaret
1980 Lady Margaret 1981 Lady Margaret 1982 Downing 1983 Lady Margaret
1984 Downing 1985 Pembroke 1986 Pembroke 1987 Caius
1988 Lady Margaret 1989 Lady Margaret 1990 Downing 1991 Downing
1992 Trinity Hall 1993 Trinity Hall 1994 Trinity Hall 1995 Trinity Hall
1996 Downing 1997 Downing 1998 Caius 1999 Caius
2000 Caius 2001 Emmanuel 2002 Caius 2003 Caius
2004 Caius 2005 Caius 2006 Caius 2007 Caius
2008 1st & 3rd Trinity
NB. The Women's May Bumps were rowed in coxed-fours between 1974 and 1989, changing to coxed-eights from 1990 onwards. A new start order was used for the women's 1990 races.

External links

1974 Clare 1975 Newnham 1976 Newnham 1977 New Hall
1978 Churchill 1979 Clare 1980 Clare 1981 New Hall
1982 Trinity Hall 1983 Trinity Hall 1984 New Hall 1985 Churchill
1986 Churchill 1987 Churchill 1988 Jesus 1989 Churchill
1990 Churchill 1991 Lady Margaret 1992 Lady Margaret 1993 Jesus
1994 Jesus 1995 Emmanuel 1996 Emmanuel 1997 Pembroke
1998 Pembroke 1999 Emmanuel 2000 Caius 2001 Caius
2002 Caius 2003 Newnham 2004 Emmanuel 2005 Jesus
2006 Pembroke 2007 Jesus 2008 Pembroke
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