Women’s boat wins blades at Torpids

Exeter bumps Teddy Hall on day three of Torpids

Exeter College Boat Club enjoyed a successful week in Torpids, with the women’s first boat securing blades and the men’s first boat bumping up two places. 

With the river level high, rowing was limited to the more experienced crews this year, leaving only Exeter’s men’s and women’s first boats to represent the College. They did Exeter proud! 

The women’s boat had an outstanding week, bumping up the river on all four days without breaking sweat. They bumped St Anne’s on day one, achieved a double bump over Mansfield and Brasenose on day two, leapfrogged Teddy Hall on day three, and won blades on day four with a bump over LMH. Remarkably, this is the third year in a row that the W1 boat has won blades in Torpids. They now sit fourth in Division Two.

The men’s boat had an unfortunate start to the week, with a chaotic race on day one initially resulting in a technical row over for Exeter, which on appeal was downgraded to being bumped two places. Matt Holyoak (2015, History), ECBCA Chair, untangled the melee afterwards: ‘Exeter closed hard on Jesus, who bumped out on LMH. Exeter then closed to within ¼ length of LMH before they bumped out, but blocked the racing line on Greenbanks, drifting nearly perpendicular across the Isis. St Hugh’s rowed past Exeter, who disentangled themselves and resumed racing. Catching up to St Hugh’s, they stopped when they bumped, and Lincoln rowed past. Several hours of appeals resulted in OURC’s usual answer: “bumps isn’t fair”.’

So, Exeter lost ground to Lincoln and St Hugh’s in controversial circumstances on day one. The crew came back strong on day two, determined to make amends, bumping Lincoln and Teddy Hall. On day three they bumped Catz, and on the final day they got revenge over St Hugh’s with a well-deserved bump. They are now up to third in Division Two.

Throughout the week, both crews looked strong and composed. We look forward to watching the Summer Eights races in Trinity Term and hopefully celebrating more success. 

The men’s boat comfortably bumps St Catherine’s