Torpids 1975

BUMPS CHARTS

STANDINGS Start Finish Pos College Pts Pts College 1 Oriel 90 91 Oriel 2 University 63 58 Christ Church 3 Christ Church 58 56 Balliol 4 Balliol 48 56 University 5 S.E.H. 47 46 S.E.H. 6 Jesus 46 43 New College 7 Worcester 43 43 Worcester 8 New College 39 42 Keble 9 St Catherine's 37 38 Lincoln 10 Lincoln 34 36 Jesus 11 Keble 33 30 Wadham 12 Wadham 29 30 Magdalen 13 Trinity 26 26 Queen's 14 Pembroke 24 26 Trinity 15 Magdalen 24 23 Pembroke 16 Queen's 23 22 St Peter's 17 St Peter's 23 22 St John's 18 Exeter 23 21 Brasenose 19 St John's 22 20 Exeter 20 Brasenose 16 18 St Catherine's 21 Osler House 13 15 Merton 22 Merton 13 12 Osler House 23 Corpus Christi 11 11 Corpus Christi 24 Hertford 8 8 Hertford 25 Wolfson 7 8 Wolfson 26 Mansfield 3 4 Mansfield

STATISTICS College All Crews [ ]=ranking Crews Bps Avg Oriel 5[ 1] 12[ 1] 2.40[ 6] Magdalen 2[ 7] 7[ 2] 3.50[ 2] Keble 2[ 7] 7[ 2] 3.50[ 2] Mansfield 1[23] 5[ 4] 5.00[ 1] Merton 2[ 7] 5[ 4] 2.50[ 4] New College 2[ 7] 5[ 4] 2.50[ 4] Balliol 2[ 7] 4[ 7] 2.00[ 7] Queen's 2[ 7] 3[ 8] 1.50[ 8] Lincoln 2[ 7] 2[ 9] 1.00[ 9] St Peter's 3[ 3] 2[ 9] 0.67[10] Corpus Christi 1[23] 0[11] 0.00[11] Trinity 2[ 7] 0[11] 0.00[11] Worcester 1[23] 0[11] 0.00[11] Christ Church 2[ 7] 0[11] 0.00[11] Pembroke 3[ 3] -1[15] -0.33[15] Wolfson 2[ 7] -1[15] -0.50[16] Hertford 2[ 7] -1[15] -0.50[16] Wadham 4[ 2] -2[18] -0.50[16] Exeter 3[ 3] -2[18] -0.67[19] University 2[ 7] -2[18] -1.00[20] Osler House 1[23] -2[18] -2.00[22] St John's 2[ 7] -3[22] -1.50[21] Brasenose 2[ 7] -6[23] -3.00[24] S.E.H. 3[ 3] -8[24] -2.67[23] Jesus 2[ 7] -9[25] -4.50[25] St Catherine's 2[ 7] -15[26] -7.50[26]

Notes

• Wed 26 Feb – Sat 1 March 1975
• Multilane racing
• Divisions at 30 min intervals from 1:30 until 4pm.
• First appearance of a 5th Torpid: Oriel V

• The Daily Telegraph Wed 26 Feb, by Cedric Venables

  Oriel may find pace too hot

  The Torpids begin at Oxford today with Oriel at the head of the river. Whether, when racing ends on Saturday, they will still be there is doubtful.

  Behind them, capable of chasing them hard every inch of the way, are three crews — University, Christ Church and Balliol, which, by Torpids standards, are above average.

  Any one of those three is good enough to go to the top, but when it is all over, it looks as if University are likely to be at the Head.

  There are one or two other crews which should make progress. St Edmund Hall, starting at the top of the Second Division, should not be troubled by any crews behind them, and they may be good enough to go up three or four places.

  St Peter's danger

  In Division Three, but still among the first boats St Peter's and Osler House are useful and could give some trouble to those in front of them.

  [The rest of the article deals with Cambridge Lents] [Start order]

• The Daily Telegraph Thu 27 Feb, by Cedric Venables

  St Edmund Hall move up in style

  After the first day's racing in the Torpids at Oxford, Oriel are still at the top, University having failed to make any impression on them. In fact University had already lost distance and at the OUBC were overlapped half a length by Christ Church.

  In the final quarter-mile Christ Church passed University and today will be chasing Oriel.

  The most impressive rowing was by St Edmund Hall at the top of the Second Division. They finished many lengths ahead of their rivals and today, from bottom place in Division I, may expect to progress at the expense of Jesus.

  Lower crews are not so clever at negotiating difficulties and nearly always there are plenty of protests. Yesterday lived up to form, and the chief umpire needed the wisdom of Solomon to sort out the problems.

  Re-row ordered

  In Division VI Wolfson II failed to move on the starting gun and various other crews were racing in wrong lanes, so a re-row was ordered.

  There was more difficulty in Division V. When Brasenose II bumped [were bumped by?] Keble II their rudder was so damaged the coxswain could not control his boat, which slewed across the river. [Results]

• The Daily Telegraph Fri 28 Feb, by Cedric Venables

  Oriel exetended by Christ Church

  Oriel's chances of holding their place at the Head of the River in the Torpids in Oxford are looking brighter, though they were pressed hard by Christ Church. At the top of the Green Bank there was about threequarters of a length of clear water between the boats, which meant that Christ Church had gained nothing from that start.

  But, over the last part of the course they came up fast and, at the finish, were almost overlapping. There should be another fine race between the two crews today.

  University College are disappointing. Having been caught by Christ Church on Wednesday, they had a further setback when Balliol overtook them.

  At the OUBC it looked as if University would hold on with nearly a length of clear water. But Balliol finished much more strongly, and near the finish took the lead.

  Down four places

  St Edmund Hall went up again when they caught Jesus at the Gut and today may give some trouble to New College. In Div II St Catherine's were the main sufferers, and from the attentions of Lincoln, Trinity, Magdalen and Wadham they went down four places.

  The surprise of this year's Torpids is the rarity of place changes among first boats. In the three top divisions, comprising 37 crews, there were only seven changes on Wednesday, and there were eight yesterday, only one in Division III, where, at the top, Brasenose caught Pembroke.

  For Brasenose II, however, the first two days have been highly unfortunate as they have plummeted from the top to the bottom of the fifth division. [Results]

• The Daily Telegraph Sat 1 March, by Cedric Venables

  Oriel in Balliol's sights

  The sunshine was pleasant enough on the river at Oxford yesterday, but the racing was dull. Balliol, and not Christ Church, will today be chasing Oriel for the Head of the River in the Torpids.

  Christ Church never gained on Oriel but were themselves uncomfortably pressed by Balliol, who passed them near the New Cut.

  St Edmund Hall's hopes of a further rise in Division I were rudely shattered and they took no part in the race. On the first stroke they went into the bank, breaking an oar in the process, and were immediately passed by Jesus and Keble.

  In Division II, Lincoln went to the top at the expense of Oriel II, and Magdalen rose one place when they passed Trinity. There were no changes in Division III. [Results]

• The Sunday Telegraph Sun 2 March

  Oriel retain Head title

  On the final day of Torpids at Oxford, Oriel easily held their place at the Head of the River for the fourth year. At the University Boat House there was a length of clear water between Oriel and Balliol and the same distance separated Balliol from Christ Church, in third place. [Div I & II Finish Order]

• The Daily Telegraph Mon 3 March, by A Special Correspondent

  Oriel and LMBC finish Head of the River

  Oriel had an easy journey to keep their place, for the fourth year, at the Head of the River in the Torpids at Oxford on Saturday, equalling the record held by Balliol. From the start Oriel were always gaining from Balliol in second place.

  Only four crews, in addition to Oriel, managed to gain their oars. They were Brasenose, Keble II, Mansfield and Oriel IV. On the other side of the picture it was a disastrous week for St Catherine's, down 11 places, and Brasenose II, who lost 12. [Results] [Finish Order] [Head crew — as below].

  [The remainder of the article deals with the Cambridge Lents]

  The article also lists the names of the Head crew.

• Coverage in The Times limited to just the bumps charts, however on Friday 7th March there is an article by Alan Gibson:

  Terrible fate of being rowed over

  I unhesitatingly nominate as Sportsman of the Month, and probably the Year, the fifth eight of Oriel College, Oxford, who four times running, at the bottom of the lowest division in the Torpids, or Toggers, or spring bumping races, "rowed over". Upon those journeys, a good deal of beer and tears must have mingled with the hallowed stream of Isis.

  It can no longer be assumed that every reader of this newspaper knows what a bumping race is: for that matter, I do not quite know myself, as Oxford, in one of their periodical but forlorn attempts to revolutionize their rowing, now permit crews in certain circumstances to overtake as well as bump. This accounts for those sudden climbs and dives which destroy the classic purity of The Times diagrams.

  The origin of bumping races is simple. You could not have, upon either the Isis or the Cam, all the colleges racing against each other because there is no room. So you set them off one behind the other, and every crew who bump the crew ahead move up a place in the order next day, or — if it is the last day of racing — next year. This has some drawbacks; it does not follow that the crew at the head of the river are the fastest (on the only occasion my own college crew, Queen's, were head, and were entered in the Grand Challenge Cup at Henley, they were probably not the fastest Oxford crew), but the system is a reasonable way of getting the best competitive rowing from narrow rivers.

  The names which you see towards the bottom of those columns of diagrams hide the identity of many men, good men, who will probably become famous and successful, but not as oarsmen. These are the rugby eights, or the cricket eights, or the wine lovers' eights, or whatever. They add to the gaiety of the river scene.

  The same practice occurs even at Cambridge, where they call themselves the Prussians of rowing. At Cambridge, as is well known, it is mandatory to rise at six in the morning, go for a five-mile run, and thump your friends on the back with cries of "marvellous!" before tackling the cold shower and the bacon and eggs. Yet I heard not long ago of a King's College Choral Scholars' eight: four tenors, four basses and (I presume) a counter-tenor as cox. When the warning pistol went before the start, they would break into "Forth in Thy Name, O Lord, I go"; when they made a bump, which was rarely, they would sing: "Now thank We all Our God"; and when they were bumped, they would leave the boat, stand on the bank with bowed heads, and sing nunc dimittis.

  The worst fate that can befall one of these miscellaneous crews is to "row over". For men whose previous experience of rowing has been limited to taking their sisters for a trip round the Hollow Pond on Wanstead Flats, it is essential to bump, or be bumped, in the first quarter of a mile. In my time [he was born in 1923, so probably early 1940s,] there was a Queen's rugby eight near the bottom of the river; there were two boats behind it, which promptly bumped one another, and stood thankfully to their oars, removing the beer from under their thwarts. Unfortunately the six crews ahead had also bumped, in three pairs. There was no way to avoid the long haul up to Folly Bridge, and the roars of cheering with which they were greeted, as they pursued their sweating, wavering, cursing way home, five minutes after all the others had finished, were not sufficient compensation for the effort.

  A year or two later, another crew faced a similar predicament, but had no nonsense about it. Straight into the bank in the Gut was their solution, after which they meanly ducked their cox: still, he was a second row forward and the heaviest man in the boat, so perhaps he deserved it.

  There must have been some bad management for Oriel V to row over four times. Even odder is that Wadham IV, immediately ahead of them, rowed over on the first three days, though they moved up a place on the fourth. What could have been simpler than a gentleman's agreement whereby Oriel bumped Wadham on the first day, and Wadham bumped Oriel on the second, thus allowing them to start again on the third in their original positions with a minimum of effort. If Oriel V are Sportsmen of the Month, are Wadham IV Cads of the Month, and what would Fry, Simon and Birkenhead, all famous Wadham sportsmen, have had to say about it? Or do they now take their rowing seriously, even at the bottom of the river?

  One reason may have been that Oriel V started only two places behind Oriel IV. Terrible penalties are prescribed for a college which permits an eight to be overtaken by one of its numerical juniors: a fine of the boat club, a formal change of title betwen the crews, and Chinese tortures in Christ Church Meadow [actually there is no record of any penalty for such an occurence]. It happened this year to Exeter II, who started four places ahead of Exeter III. Indeed Exeter II finished bottom but one on the river, overtaken by Wadham IV on the last afternoon. Oriel V will get them next year.

  The most spectacular descent was that of Brasenose II — 10 places in the first two days, 12 altogether — but they had no third eight by whom to be overtaken. This seems an odd thing to say of a college which we used to think was so hearty that it had been transplanted in one piece from the Backs. Yet there were some arguments even upon the austere Cam. Trinity Hall IV, I gather, unsuccessfully claimed a triple overbump, which they had made upon a crew drawn into the side, a crew under the impression that they had already either been bumped, or made their bump. A single protest can send repercussions down the entire long spine.

  You can see it is all quite as complicated as the diagrams, and would have been much simpler if only the rivers had been wider. "Isis and Cam, to patient science dear!" wrote Wordsworth, as if he were trying to work out a better system for oarsmen. Perhaps he was: for on looking up the quotation I see it comes from a poem beginning "Open your Gates, ye Everlasting Piles", and I bet that is just what the heroes of Oriel V are saying now.

• In other news ... [1975]

  February 26

  A fleeing Provisional Irish Republican Army member shoots and kills off-duty London police officer Stephen Tibble, 22, as he gives chase.

  February 27

  The 2 June Movement kidnaps West German politician Peter Lorenz. He is released on March 4 after most of the kidnappers' demands are met.

  February 28

  A major tube train crash at Moorgate station, London kills 43 people.

  February 28

  In Lome, Togo, the European Economic Community and 46 African, Caribbean and Pacific countries sign a financial and economic treaty, known as the first Lome Convention.

  February 28

  The National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA) approaches the South African Embassy in London and requests 40 to 50 artillery pieces to assist their cause in the Angolan Civil War.

  March 1

  Aston Villa win the Football League Cup at Wembley, beating Norwich City 1-0 in the final.

  March 1

  Australian television switches to full-time colour.

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