Bumps Reports 2026 - Friday

With last day euphoria and the bumps party to deal with, reports are coming in slowly...so keep watching over the weekend for updates 😆

But...TL;DR: Both headships retained, overbumps and some very tight chases topped off a great Bumps week for City. 🏆 🏆

W2 (W2)

📉 Bumped down 😞  ·  Tati (personality hire)

May not have been the end we wanted but our juniors won that hard battle fair and square 🥲 Still important to remember what an incredible year we had! It’s hard to look back on it and not feel an immense sense of pride and privilege that we got to do this ✨together✨. It was a year defined not just by a few days of high highs or low lows, but by a daily commitment to show up and do the hard things over and over again. It’s all about practice! 💖 I for one am so proud of us for always rising up to the challenge, never giving up (never what?) and making it the best year we could, against all odds.

Big love to everyone who has one time or another been part of the Vibe Tribe™️, every single one of you made this little project so special (the meme game alone is chefs kiss)

VV over and out!

O3 (Performance Junior Boys)

➡️ Rowed over 😮‍💨  ·  Harry Clark, 7

And so it ends. One last ride, so naturally we decided to drag it out with a full belt down the track to end the week with a rowover. 🤗. The junior boys finished 4th on the river, and I could not be prouder to be leaving this squad in the shape it’s in. For the 4 of us who ended our time at city last night (for now!), and the other 4 who remain a juggernautal force to be reckoned with, it’s fair to say we’ve gone out on a high this year.

A million thank yous to everyone who’s made this squad what it is. Bring on a new season, and bring on next year! 💙❤️💛

W4 (Junior Performance Girls)

📈 Bumped up 😃  ·  Ianthe 5 seat

As the sun sets on not only the final day of bumps, but also several members of our crew’s last race as a junior, it’s safe to say there’s a real mix of emotions in the air. Pride, joy and for Emily, absolute terror, as I attempted to pick her up and throw her in the river.

We knew today was going to be a tough fight, and with a very last minute sub due to illness, it really was all to play for. After Piotr got a little emotional from the thank you cards, he’s a big softie really, we were ready to boat. The row up was fairly calm and soon we found ourselves at station 4, a big move up from station 9 in just 3 days.

Once I had figured out how to count down, the last gun was fired. The girls laid it all out for the final day, and all credit to w2 they put up a good fight, but just not good enough. The final bump was seized half way down the reach, finishing our 2026 bumps campaign 6 places higher than when we started. I wish I could insert photos to this report, but seeing as I cannot I will have to describe the current scene in front of me through words. A hilarious and loving Polish man, smiling like we’ve never seen him before, and the most tan man you will ever see who’s head is still reflecting light despite it being dark outside are sharing a hug, a witty ginger boy and his amazing dad who has done so much for us this year stand just outside, and a large gaggle of laughing and boisterous teenagers fill the boat bay. A undeniable sense of love for our club and eachother radiates from each and every one of us.

I really couldn’t think of a better crew, coach or club to close out this chapter with. Thank you City 💙💛❤️

O7 (Core Men A)

➡️ Rowed over 😮‍💨  ·  Steve

Fantastic finish for the boys, our strategy worked well and whilst scrappy towards the start, we settled nicely through the plough onto the reach to the finish line. Two whistles on us in the gut was an alarm but then one at the plough gave us the fire to push them away and we left the crew in our wake to the finish. A week of two halves and finished with a colossal party and hangover. Props to Hugh, Marno and Ursula and great work boys!

Yeaaah City

W9 (Masters Women A)

➡️ Rowed over 😮‍💨  ·  Kimmy, Bow

…friday’s racing resulted in two more row overs….

……we believe we are trapped in a temporal loop, forever oscillating between divisions 2 and 3…

…our only projected escape window is Bumps 2027…

…but at least we have located the sandwiches…

…bumps 2026 over and out.

O11 (Masters Men A)

📈 Bumped up 😃  ·  Terry Dactyl (stroke)

After a disappointing start to the week, where we were denied a technical row over and xpress were awarded a bump, we had managed to bump up each subsequent day. Super sub Kier had done sterling work for us on Tuesday, and we were determined to finish the week off strong. The crew were buoyed by Chris’s character assassination of me in the report from Thursday, and - delighted with the new nickname they’d given me - we set off. At the Plough we performed what turned out to be the best start of the week for us - 1.25 appearing on the speedcoach at one point. As Chris said yesterday, we were coming for 9s!

On the start Jon G and Ruta were a top class bank party and had us at the end of the bung on the gun. We set off at 42 and immediately got the length call. 3/4, 1/2, 1/4 and overlap were called before we’d completed our start routine. According to Strava (which we all know if gospel), 9s conceded after 304 meters.

All that remained was to return the boat to the core men, bedecked in willow, and then on to the celebrations!

Masters men have made huge strides this season. Huge thanks to our coach, Lisl, for her tireless efforts with us. Thanks also to Elisabeth and Marta who have been our regular coxes. Finally a HUGE thanks to Sophie, our cox this week. Apologies for my inability to work out the difference between single strokes and continuous rowing. I promise to work on that for next year!

O11 (Masters Men A)

📈 Bumped up 😃  ·  Chris Reid

It was time to push off to row up to the race which meant I had the tough job of prying Guy at 7 away from his hordes of admiring housewives and ask him to graciously get in the boat.

Rich at 6 reluctantly swooped his hideous Hawaiian shirt for the City Livery and settled into position. Not just Rich - I realised the entire crew - even Rob at 3! - had stripped down to their one piece: actual race configuration from a Masters crew.

In our full race kit Nines would have no chance! Seeking inspiration, I scrolled once again through the many thousands of German Olympic eight’s instas that Tim from Essen at 4 kept insisting on sending us. Well he had pulled me to victory in the Masters D double scull earlier this year so I felt I had to put up with it. Off we set, again commanded by Super Sophie our cox. Hard effort was required - always a risk for us as Dr Johann at bow had made it clear he was not keen on giving any of us the Kiss of Life if needed. We spun for the start. Suddenly for the first time ever our engine room - Lassi at 2 - spoke! What would he say to encourage us? “Guys, please, how many times - I’m Finnish not Swedish.”

30 seconds to go. Ruta professionally pushed us out. Adam at stroke scrabbled with his claws for purchase on the smooth wooden surface of the oar, cawing with distress. We were off! 308 metres later, nines slaughtered and lying like a bunch of beached whales in the Gut. Too easy, too much fun. Just left: the pleasure of watching city top men and women crews dominate the bumps from Beer Tree left. Next week we begin again coach Lisl’s fiendishly complicated ergo training programme. (Can’t say anything bad about her in this as she’s captain next year thus can order the execution of any Masters rower at will.) thanks for a great week all. But will I ever have any crew left to row with again after writing this?

Note: these are just the reports from crews that submitted them, not the full results for the day. Full results are maintained by CRA here: https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/jess.upton/viz/CRATownBumps2026/Results-OpenDivisions

Place score for City after Friday: +loads!