Caius Boat Club M1 retained Head of the River status as M2 rose into Division One for the first time in 16 years in last week’s May Bumps, when W3 earned blades for four successive bumps.

M1 became Head of the River in 2019, retained their place in 2022 in the first Bumps following the Covid-19 pandemic, and had the power to hold off their would-be rivals in 2023.

Lady Margaret M1 (St John’s College) and Magdalene M1 both rowed over each day to remain in second and third, respectively. M2 joined M1 in Division One, completing their rise from Division Two by bumping Hughes Hall M1 on Saturday’s final day. It is the first time Caius have had two boats in the top men’s pool since 2007.

W1 in full flow (credit: Caius Boat Club Facebook)

W1 enjoyed a strong showing by bumping Newnham W1 to go Head of the River and rowed over until Saturday, when Jesus W1, blessed with a number of University Blues, caught them. Charley Craig, the W1 Stroke, incurred a broken blade in the bump (see photo below).

W2 had a difficult week, falling to spoons after being bumped by Wolfson W1, Corpus Christi W1, Pembroke W2 and Robinson W1 to fall to 16th place in Division Two.

There were contrasting fortunes for W3, who soared to blades by bumping Jesus W3, Lucy Cavendish W2, Murray Edwards W2 and Pembroke W3. M3 opened with a bump of Hughes Hall M2, twice rowed over and then were bumped by King’s M2 to complete the week where they started it.

W4 twice rowed over and then were twice bumped to slip two places to 14th in Division Four, while M4, the MCR boat, recorded three bumps and one row over to climb to third in Division Five.

“Everyone was really happy with the results in the end,” Emma Radford, Caius Captain of the Boats, said.

Emma was magnanimous about W1 missing out on Head of the River, giving W1 a target for 2024.

She added: “Jesus W1 was a super strong crew and had Blue boat rowers. W1 were as fast as they could possibly be and they held them off for longer than many other crews. A lot are staying on for next year so there’s a lot of potential for the future.”

Main image: M1 celebrate Head of the River; Above: M1 and M2 on the riverbank (credits: Javier Sánchez-Bonilla)

Crews list:

M1: Cox: Ellis Kelly; Matt Francis, Reef Boericke, Cameron Mackenzie, Luis Kleine Wortmann, Aleksandr Bowkis, Will Wauchope, Dan Toy, George Hawkswell. Coach: Ben Dyer.

W1: Cox: Ellie Nanni; Charley Craig, Margaux Riley, Michelle Crees, Carys Earl, Liv Conway, Lucy Havard, Georgina Acott, Liv Gray. Coach: Bronya Sykes.

M2: Cox: Kirsten Oag; Inigo Holman, Ed O‘Connor, Toko Avaliani, Jack Campbell, Ed Scullion, Alex Lapsey, Ewan Gribbin, Ben Burgess. Coach: Felicity White.

W2: Cox: Holly Cairns; Mila Marcheva, Honora Verdone, Emma Radford, Mia Bentham, Ally Claessens, Liz Addis, Chloe Gibson, Anna Farrow. Coaches: Victoria Walker and Jamie Webb.

M3: Cox: Katherine Elbro; Will Morris, James Hidson, Josh Richmond, Johan Kidger, Javier Sanchez-Bonilla, Finean Chetham, Jamie Maxen, Tom McLaughlin. Coach: Louis Baxter.

W3, pictured above (credit: Caius Boat Club Facebook): Cox: Elizabeth Bratton, Hermione Peart, Orla Hughes, Grace Malyan, Julia Michniowska, Maia von Malaisé, Freya Eastwood, Hannah Taylor, Anne Machel. Coaches: Bronya Sykes and George Hawkswell.

Cox: Heqing Huang; Ethan St Catherine, Joshua Hare, Marius Endler, Tom Neill, Benjamin Keener, Lukas Seiler, Floris Blok, David Posner. Coach: Simon Goodbrand. Further squad members: Wiktor Budek, Sam Dernie, Yizhou Wan.

W4: Cox: Aiden Jones; Rishita Banerjee, Simone Eizagirre/Miriam Yang, Butterfly Paterson, Hannah Eggleston, Phillipa Johnson, Pei Jiang, Natalia Emsley, Anlei Peng. Coach: Robert Gardiner.

W1 cox Ellie Nanni looks on as stroke Charley Craig balances her broken blade (credit: Caius Boat Club Facebook)