The top of men's division one was an excellent showcase for college rowing as
Magdalen attempted to take the men's headship just as
the snow stopped falling. After having seen their women bump
New College to gain the women's headship before the
gut,
Oriel weren't going to give up the top spot easily and
a titanic struggle on the first day resulted in them holding the headship by a
matter of feet. All eyes were therefore on the headship crews to see if they
could maintain a historic Torpids double headship until the week was out. Fierce
challenges from
Magdalen on the Thursday and Friday resulted in some
extremely exciting racing but no change in the men's headship.
Queen's stepped up to challenge for the women's stop
spot on Thursday, sending
New College into the bank and the second division in
the process. By Saturday however, both
Oriel crews rowed over on the distance to claim the
double headship, the first in Torpids in living memory.
The top divisions both showed a lot of movement, a powerful
St Catherine's winning blades in men's division one to
finish sixth.
Worcester and
Trinity both bumped three times as
Christ Church, also with three bumps, returned to
division one.
Pembroke's upward rise was finally arrested by
New College in an extremely tight battle for third
place that was every bit as enthralling as the contest for first. Women's
division one saw every crew involved in a bump on Wednesday and finished with
five bumps for
St Catherine's,
St Hilda's,
St Edmund Hall,
Worcester and
Hertford.
University claimed seven bumps to cruise into women's
division two, joining
Exeter,
St Hugh's and
Balliol who won blades.
Lincoln will be keen to avenge their performance come
Eights,
as each of their crews was bumped every day over the competition for a
total loss of 41 places.