Eights 1975

BUMPS CHARTS

STANDINGS Start Finish Pos College Pts Pts College 1 Christ Church 230 232 Christ Church 2 Oriel 202 205 Oriel 3 S.E.H. 200 189 S.E.H. 4 Keble 179 181 Balliol 5 Balliol 179 178 Keble 6 University 174 169 University 7 New College 138 137 New College 8 Wadham 136 134 Wadham 9 Magdalen 135 133 Magdalen 10 Lincoln 134 128 St John's 11 Pembroke 134 124 Pembroke 12 St John's 125 121 Lincoln 13 Queen's 116 121 Merton 14 Merton 111 116 Queen's 15 Worcester 109 109 Worcester 16 Jesus 106 107 Exeter 17 Exeter 104 102 Jesus 18 Brasenose 93 96 Brasenose 19 St Catherine's 79 82 St Peter's 20 St Peter's 76 79 Corpus Christi 21 Corpus Christi 74 74 St Catherine's 22 Hertford 68 72 Trinity 23 Trinity 66 70 Hertford 24 Osler House 39 44 Osler House 25 Wolfson 27 30 Wolfson 26 Mansfield 17 20 Mansfield 27 Regent's Park 4 5 Regent's Park 28 Linacre 4 4 Linacre 29 St Hugh's 2 2 St Hugh's

STATISTICS College All Crews [ ]=ranking Crews Bps Avg Oriel 7[ 1] 15[ 1] 2.14[ 6] Exeter 5[ 6] 13[ 2] 2.60[ 5] Wolfson 4[15] 12[ 3] 3.00[ 3] Osler House 2[25] 8[ 4] 4.00[ 2] St Peter's 4[15] 8[ 4] 2.00[ 7] Regent's Park 1[27] 6[ 6] 6.00[ 1] Mansfield 2[25] 6[ 6] 3.00[ 3] Trinity 4[15] 5[ 8] 1.25[ 8] Queen's 4[15] 3[ 9] 0.75[10] Wadham 5[ 6] 2[10] 0.40[11] Linacre 1[27] 1[11] 1.00[ 9] Hertford 7[ 1] 0[12] 0.00[12] Worcester 4[15] 0[12] 0.00[12] University 5[ 6] -1[14] -0.20[14] Corpus Christi 3[22] -1[14] -0.33[15] St Catherine's 5[ 6] -2[16] -0.40[16] Brasenose 3[22] -2[16] -0.67[19] Merton 5[ 6] -3[18] -0.60[17] New College 5[ 6] -3[18] -0.60[17] Magdalen 4[15] -3[18] -0.75[20] St Hugh's 1[27] -3[18] -3.00[29] St John's 3[22] -4[22] -1.33[23] Keble 6[ 3] -5[23] -0.83[21] Jesus 5[ 6] -6[24] -1.20[22] Balliol 5[ 6] -7[25] -1.40[24] Christ Church 5[ 6] -7[25] -1.40[24] Lincoln 4[15] -9[27] -2.25[28] S.E.H. 6[ 3] -11[28] -1.83[26] Pembroke 6[ 3] -12[29] -2.00[27]

Notes

• Wed 28 – Sat 31 May 1975
• 10th Division added.
• Division times: 1:00, 1:35, 2:10, 2:45, 3:20, 3:55, 4:30, 5:05, 5:40, 6:15.

• The Times Wed 28 May, by Jim Railton

  Head of the House

  The strongest crews in this year's Oxford Summer Eights, which start today at 1 o'clock, seem to be the head crew, Christ Church, last year's gallant runners-up, Oriel and Keble, who start in fifth position. These three crews each have two oarsmen from the 1975 Blue boat on board. But Christ Church, with an Isis oarsman, Newman, in addition to the Blues, Baird and Hutchings, must start favourites to retain their title.

  The format of the competition at the top is likely to be be at least two days of gruelling competition between Christ Church and Oriel exploring each other's strength and weaknesses. Keble will be expected to join the fray by Friday, assuming by then they have overhauled Magdalen and Balliol.

  Altogether there are 121 entries in 10 divisions, starting 35 minutes apart, including a women's eight from St Hugh's starting in division nine, a "dons" boat among Oriel's seven entries, and a guest competitor, John Noakes, from BBC's Blue Peter, coxing Balliol's fourth eight. [Start Order]

• The Daily Telegraph Wed 28 May, by Desmond Hill

  Weight may be problem for Oriel

  Christ Church embark on the defence of the Oxford Eights Headship this afternoon with two Blues, Baird and Hutchings, and though their superiority is not so marked as it was last year, they will almost certainly still be head on Saturday night.

  Behind them, Oriel also have two Blues, Beak and the new president, Graham Innes, but are without Harris, who is in the ARA lightweight eight. If yesterday's gale persists, their disadvantage in weight could prove a decisive handicap.

  Balliol, missing Nick Tee, who is also aiming at an international lightweight cap, and Magdalen, starting third and fourth, are of a reasonable standard, but are threatened by a powerful Keble crew.

  If, as is generally believed, Keble are at least the second fastest boat on the river, they still have to make a bump each night to reach the top, a feat seldom accomplished except by really outstanding crews.

  St John's look considerably faster than of late, as do New College, though New College shattered their bows on a punt in their final practice outing last night. A new Tenth Division brings the total of competing crews to 121, with St Hugh's the sole all-girl entry. [Start Order]

• The Times Thu 29 May

  Oxford rowing

  Christ Church, with an impressive display yesterday, the opening day of the Oxford Summer eights, stamped their authority on the competition leaving little doubt that they will retain their headship on Saturday. The Christ Church eight strode away from Oriel, their immediate pursuers, and were over four lengths clear at the finish. [Bumps Chart]

• The Daily Telegraph Thu 29 May, by Desmond Hill

  Christ Church lead almost doubled

  Christ Church must assuredly retain the Oxford Eights Headship on the strength of yesterday's opening day, when they were in a wholly different class from their pursuers, almost doubling the three-length lead they had at the Long Bridges.

  Indeed there were no bumps among the first eight boats.

  St John's, with an early success over Lincoln, and New College, in a later oar to oar contact with Worcester, improved the average [?sic]

  Most incidents came in the Second Division with the first three separated by quarter lengths at Tims before Merton caught Queen's at the Pink Post. The next three were even closer and Exeter hit Pembroke at the third attempt.

  Josette Moodey [Mooney] will go down in history as the first girl ever to score a bump in the Second Division. After one unsuccessful swipe she steered St Catherine's into New College II within yards of the line. Behind her Trinity finally escaped from Division III.

  St Peter's and Hertford, the other college first eights in Division III, rowed over but Osler House, with the old blue Dart at No.6, continued their ascent, needing only 200 yards to overhaul Queen's II.

  St Hugh's maiden voyage was cut short in the Gut, but an unprecedented number of crews in Division X had to cover the full course. [List of Bumps]

• The Times Fri 30 May

  Christ Church still dominate

  The leading three crews on the second day of the Oxford Summer Eights rowed over yesterday with the head crew, Christ Church, continuing the demonstrate their supremacy. Keble, who overlapped Magdalen on Wednesday by two feet yet failed to make a hit, gained their revenge yesterday near the finish, but Wednesday's failure removes any chance of Keble challenging for the head position. Altogether, there are only two gains in Division One — Keble and New College. St Hugh's, the only ladies eight in the competition, rowing in Division Nine, had a protest upheld against a bump by a St Catherine's crew and maintained their position.

  A dispute between Oriel [III] and Trinity [II] in the fifth division remained unresolved last night and is likely to lead to a rerow today. [Bumps Chart]

• The Daily Telegraph Fri 30 May, by Desmond Hill

  Oriel's gamble fails

  Oriel extracted their third Blue, Mark Harris, from the British lightweight eight and put him in the No.3 seat in hopes of deposing Christ Church on the second day of the Oxford Eights; but the House again rode [sic] over unchallenged.

  Keble, who had crabbed when within four feet of Magdalen on Wednesday, now made no mistake but Wadham, after two shots at St Edmund Hall, caught a massive crab and went down to St John's. New College made short work of Lincoln.

  Merton got one foot into Division I by catching Jesus, though a crab at Tims meant another 90 seconds rowing. Trinity and Pembroke subsided quickly but Corpus' bump on Oriel II was the subject of endless argument.

  The Third Division boats seem to be finding their own level, as the only bumps were at the top and bottom. St Peter's followed Trinity out of the depths.

  In addtion to two overbumps in the nether regions, there was a remarkable adjudication in Division IX, producing some very odd lines on the chart. University V were mainly responsible, striking Magdalen IV so comprehensively as to block the river behind them.

  St Hugh's, unable to weave through, were struck by their pursuers, after which Exeter IV skirted the wreckage and caught Pembroke V, who had started five ahead. The girls' defeat was chivalrously cancelled, but the other bumps stood. [List of Bumps]

• The Times Sat 31 May

  Summer Eights at Oxford

  The first 10 crews in the top division of the Oxford summer eights rowed over yesterday with Worcester making the only gain, at Lincoln's expense, at the foot of the division. Christ Church have remained supreme. [Bumps Chart]

• The Daily Telegraph Sat 31 May, by Desmond Hill

  No Danger to Christ Church

  On the third day of Oxford Summer Eights Christ Church were in no danger at the head as they finished at least four lengths in front of Oriel.

  The First division seemed to have found their level as the leading 10 crews went through with their distances more or less maintained.

  The only bump was by Worcester on Lincoln who were easy victims when they caught a crab at Donnington Bridge.

  The Second division again provided more incident with four bumps and a hairbreadth escape for Corpus from Oriel II. In Division III Hertford also survived by inches, but Osler House repaired Thursday's omission and climbed again.

  History was made in Division IX when St Hugh's, who were spared after Thursday's pile-up, steamed triumphantly into Magdalen IV to score Oxford's first girls-on-boys bump.

  Among first boats Trinity and Magdaldan are both within sight of a maximum and Regent's Park, despite a blank day yesterday, could also gain their oars with two earlier bumps and an overbump. [List of Bumps]

• The Times Mon 2 June just contains the complete bumps chart with no further reporting.

• The Daily Telegraph Mon 2 June, by Desmond Hill

  Christ Church owe their success to coaching

  Christ Church dominated the Oxford Summer Eights to the end, again finishing four lengths clear of Oriel, when the races concluded on Saturday evening after one of the least eventful Eights Weeks for many years. There were only seven first division bumps in four days.

  Oriel were being slightly pressed by Balliol at the O U B C, probabaly as a result of Keble's attack on Balliol, which closed the intervals between the three boats to less than a length. The sole first division bump was at the very foot, where Merton returned at Lincoln's expense.

  Regent's Park, in the unfashionable seventh division, were the only first boat, apart from The House, to gain their oars, with a profit of six places. Friday's triumph turned sour for St Hugh's, who were overbumped by Pembroke V.

  As so often recently, Christ Church owed much of their success to painstaking coaching. Unfortunately, with the exam season imminent, they will not reach Henley unscathed. Oxford's main representation there will be a crew composed mainly of Blues and Isis caps.

  By present standards he first division was very respectable and it was good to see Merton, Trinity and St Peter's climbing again after some time in the wilderness. Only for Lincoln and Pembroke were the races a complete disaster. Head of River crew: [as below]

• In other news ... [1975]

  Wed May 28

  Fifteen West African countries sign the Treaty of Lagos, creating the Economic Community of West African States.

  Fri May 30

  For the first time in eight years, the Suez Canal became navigable once more, after the last two trapped ships, the British freighters Scottish Star and Port Invercargill, were towed 60 miles from the Great Bitter Lake to Port Said. The Canal would officially reopen on June 5.

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