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 June 2007 and ran until 16 June 2007. The May Bumps 2008 will begin on 11 June 2008 and will run until 14 June 2008

Structure of the May Bumps

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

Women's 1st Division

Crews finishing Head of the River

Men's May Bumps (1887 - 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. May Bumps were cancelled between 1915 and 1918, and in 1940 due to war. |-}

Women's May Bumps (1974 - 2008)

{ | | 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 | -}

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

CUR1350 - Cambridge University Radio provide commentary and results updated live
Intro to Cambridge bumps from the Trinity College boat club
Cambridge bumps charts — archive of the past decade's results
Cambridge University Combined Boat Clubs
Pegasus Cup Standings from Milton Brewery