THE SPORT OF ROWING The Brasenose College Boat Club Book of 1837 records bumping races at Ox- ford beginning in 1822.203 Former Eton River Master Frank Gren- fell: “Bumping races were a way of racing a large number of boats simultaneously, or at least in rapid succession with several divi- sions, and actually made it possible to finish a contest between large numbers of boats (say fifty) within a reasonably short time. It may be that Bumps were used for that rea- son, even when side-by-side races were also possible. Now, of course, bumps linger as a kind of historical curiosity, but they served a very useful purpose in the past. “I have always believed that bumping races first evolved at Eton (of course) and were then carried to Oxford and Cambridge by Eton boys.”204 In 1897, Isthmian Library205 rowing au- thor W.E. Crum had a different perspective. He decried the only recent arrival of bump- ing races at Eton. “In the last few years, another race has been established for the Lower Boats, but it has not met with the ap- proval of many Old Etonians. It is a bump- ing race, similar to those at Oxford and Cambridge. “Opponents of the measure object that a bumping race is the very worst that can be rowed. It is necessary at the Universities, on account of the narrowness of the rivers, to hold these races, for two boats cannot race abreast; but they must tend to make crews rush and hurry for two or three minutes, and then try to get home as best as they can.”206 Today, as University rowing in England enters its third century, bumping races are still held twice a year at Oxford and at Cam- bridge and are still a very big social and ath- letic endeavor for the college crews. 203 Burnell, Swing, p.4 204 Grenfell, personal correspondence, 2008 205 See Chapter 16. 206 W.E. Crum, Rowing at Eton College, Chapter XIV of Isthmian Rowing, p. 243 The Battle of the Blues The now annual rowing competition be- tween a boat made up of the best eight row- ers of the various colleges at Oxford and their counterparts at Cambridge is referred to simply as the Boat Race. The crews that represent their Universi- ties in the Boat Race are called the Oxford and Cambridge Blue Boats. Participants in the Boat Race are said to “have gotten their Blue.” Rowe & Pitman: “Throughout the Oc- tober term at both Universities the President of the University Boat Club is very busy with the selection and arrangement of the Trial Eights [a tradition that comes directly from Eton]. These two crews, when finally made up, contain the sixteen men from whom – after adding the President himself and one or two old blues whom it may not be thought necessary to row in Trials – the Varsity Eight is itself chosen in the follow- ing term.”207 American author Stephen Kiesling208: “The original Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race, in June, 1829, marked the beginning of the second intercollegiate sport. The first was cricket, which Oxford and Cambridge had begun playing [in 1828], and, in fact, it was a member of the Cambridge Cricket Club who challenged a friend at Oxford to gather a crew and race on a twisting course at Hen- ley-on-Thames.”209 That first Boat Race had three Etonians in the Cambridge boat and three Westmin- ster grads and one Etonian in the Oxford boat. Between 1829 and 1862, “slightly over five Etonians rowed on average in each pair of University crews.”210 Charles Luckman, amateur rowing his- torian, The Oratory School, Captain of Boats 207 Rowe & Pitman, p. 177 208 See Chapter 139. 209 Kiesling, p. 85 210 Byrne & Churchill, p. 180 64
