Magdalen continued their run of form at the top of the
pile in Summer Eights last year, holding off strong challenges from
Pembroke and
Balliol to maintain the men's headship for the third
year running, only the second college to achieve this feat since before 1980.
The top three were very close for the last two days,
Balliol rueing the fact that even though they might
have been fast enough to bump the headship crew, they could not bump
Pembroke until the last day after a klaxon had been
sounded, stopping racing and therefore voiding the bump.
An extremely strong
St Catherine's crew stormed up the charts, finishing
off a luckless week for
Oriel and winning blades in the process. Blades in
division one were also claimed by a strong
University, shadowing
St Catz' progress.
Keble made an emphatic entry to the first division,
rising four places in the process.
Women's division one saw a repeat of
Torpids, with last year's winners
New College being unceremoniously deposed by a fast
St Edmund Hall, winning their first ever headship in
the women's event. By the end of the week
Christ Church had managed to climb to second for a
shot at their first women's headship this year
[2007]. Big movers in division one included
Hertford, winning blades to move up to seventh, and
Queen's, who went down four to leave them at the
bottom of the first division. Special mention goes to
Jesus II and
Hertford II, winning blades in style by rising five
places each.