Michaelmas Bumps

Michaelmas Bumps
Rob Ryan robryanrowing@yahoo[dot]co[dot]uk	14:08, 29th Jan 2010 31 weeks ago
Waiting for the flag to change has become a regular event in Hilary Term, and I wonder if there might be interest in having some bumps racing at a time when the river conditions are generally better. Outside Trinity Term, the best term-time river conditions are in the first half of Michaelmas. The second half of term is often a wash-out, little different from Hilary, but the first half is usually much better. I propose converting IWL A and IWL B into a small two day bumps regatta on the weekend at the end of 4th Week, Michaelmas Term. This would be limited to senior crews only, with just two divisions of men and two divisions of women (50 boats in all), with each division racing twice on the Saturday and twice on the Sunday. The logistical overhead of a bumps regatta is, of course, much greater than that of a head race, not least the problem of finding umpires and marshals. But, if there is genuine interest in this proposal, these problems could be overcome. It is not my intention that this event replace Torpids, but it would provide some useful additional bumps racing ... and may be the last chance for many third-years to win a bumping blade.
RE: Michaelmas Bumps
Ross ross.stevenson@lmh	10:15, 30th Jan 2010 31 weeks ago
It sounds like a nice idea, but I've got a few concerns. Firstly, if there are only 25 crews of each gender then there may be some boat clubs left out entirely. Maybe if every college first boat could be included? Secondly, it would take a whole weekend out of novice training for those colleges using the Isis. With Nepthys Regatta also taking a Saturday before Christ Church (for those novice crews not entered), this would substantially reduce the water time most novices would be able to have, which wouldn't be great, judging from some of the carnage at Christ Church regatta this year.
RE: Michaelmas Bumps
Rob Ryan robryanrowing@yahoo[dot]co[dot]uk	14:05, 30th Jan 2010 31 weeks ago
Yes, I too am concerned that crews that want to row may be excluded. The limited daylight at this time of year restricts how many divisions can race, if the regatta is to finish in a single weekend. In IWL A last term, there were only 15 'serious' men's eights taking part (i.e. those who were faster than Trinity WA!), so two divisions per sex may be enough. However, if this proposal does prove popular, and too many crews want to enter, then I'm certain ways will be found to solve the problem, such as the suggestion you have made. I also agree with the need not to take away time from novice training, which is one of the reasons why I proposed replacing IWL A and IWL B, rather than having an additional regatta. No new racing time would need to be scheduled, beyond switching two Sundays to a single weekend.
RE: Michaelmas Bumps
Emily emily_baldock@hotmail[dot]com	15:09, 31st Jan 2010 31 weeks ago
I think you might find that the city clubs have something to say about this proposal. At the moment they have Sunday mornings to themselves and also expect to train on Saturdays. Two Sunday afternoons of not rowing is therefore not a problem to them, but one whole weekend would be. I can't see them agreeing to it. If you want some extra bumps practice why not enter City Bumps.
RE: Michaelmas Bumps
Rob Ryan robryanrowing@yahoo[dot]co[dot]uk	01:15, 1st Feb 2010 31 weeks ago
The event would require the same racing time, no more, than the IWL A+B it replaces, i.e. two afternoons, not the entire weekend. There would be only eight divisions racing each day. It would probably make little difference to other clubs whether they lose two Sunday afternoons or a Saturday and a Sunday afternoon. We could have two separate Sundays, instead of a single weekend, but that would involve setting up and taking down twice, which would be a hassle. As you know, City Bumps is for IVs and is not inter-collegiate.
RE: Michaelmas Bumps
Tom thomas.baker@jesus	10:39, 1st Feb 2010 30 weeks ago
Another thing to point out is that the new committee will only have had 4 weeks to learn their respective posts, and to expect them to run a 2 day bumps regatta smoothly is asking quite a lot. As it currently stands, the IWL's provide a useful way of providing competition that is easily organisable, and enables the training of marshals in a relatively (compared to bumps racing) risk free environment. The most experienced marshals at this time will be the ones wanting to race in bumps, and therefore unavailable to marshal. Inexperienced marshals + inexperienced committee + bumps = carnage The committee at this time (i.e. 4th week MT) will also have only just finished organising and running Autumn 4's, and this proposal asks them to organise an event the following w/e, which includes other things that the committee do prior to regattas such as coxing briefing, marshall briefing, marshall/umpiring rotas as well as being at racedesk all day of every day of the regatta, plus sizeable set up and take down time preceeding and following the regatta. As I've said, MT is a time for easing the committee into their roles so they are able to run successful Torpids and Eights events later in the year, not for burning the committee out with extra chances for people to win blades (which if you haven't already done you're either not good enough haven't trained hard enough or not lucky enough [as RQ famously says at the briefing, bumps racing is not fair], and before I get loads of complaints I include myself in the former). I also agree that MT should have the focus on training novices, senior rowers get their chance with Torpids/Eights with 1000's/10000's of spectators, and have Autumn 4's/4's Head if they want to do some racing already in MT.
RE: Michaelmas Bumps
Chris christopher.cooper@sgc	10:48, 1st Feb 2010 30 weeks ago
To correct Rob slightly, although CORC bumps is for IVs, many colleges do indeed enter so it is pretty inter-collegiate. It also allows colleges to see where they stand compared to the City clubs & external entrants.
RE: Michaelmas Bumps
Tom C thomas.chapman@chem	11:24, 1st Feb 2010 30 weeks ago
City Bumps is an excellent little regatta, really good laugh and well enjoyed be every college crew i've seen enter, apart from the ones that get taken to town by those pesky kids...
RE: Michaelmas Bumps
Rob Ryan robryanrowing@yahoo[dot]co[dot]uk	13:09, 1st Feb 2010 30 weeks ago
I think the prognosis of a Michaelmas Bumps being 'carnage' is incorrect. All crews would be senior, with just four divisions rowing four times each. The whole event would require only two afternoons, and would replace (not add to) existing scheduled racing time. All I am proposing, in effect, is changing the format of IWL A+B from head racing to bumps racing. I cannot accept that my proposal is too much for OURCs to handle. Consider what Christ Church, a single college, achieves each Michaelmas in 7th Week. An event with 150 crews, over four days, with every rower (and many coxes) complete novices ... even though they have an 'inexperienced' committee. As far as the experience of marshalls is concerned, I would envisage that the marshalls in a Michaelmas Bumps would all be seniors. There will probably be only one crew per sex per college taking part, leaving plenty of second year boaties to coerse into helping out. Remember that the event would take place at the weekend, so there will be few academic commitments restricting availability. If OURCs definitely doesn't think it is able/willing to organise a Michaelmas Bumps, is there a college out there that is?
RE: Michaelmas Bumps
Chris christopher.cooper@sgc	14:07, 1st Feb 2010 30 weeks ago
ChCh do manage to put on a great event, but it's not solely the status of the crews, but incompetence of marshals that causes carnage. OURCs could manage such a regatta, but as with all the other major events we run, the event can only run as well as the quality of the marshals that the colleges send. I don't know if you have served on OURCs committees Rob, but from my experience we are always short of marshals, and good ones especially.We would be even shorter of experienced marshals in MT, as by that point, many of the rowers would only be in their first few weeks of learning. Colleges very rarely send a cohort of experienced rowers to act as marshals. Having an event as a senior-only event would lessen the number of experienced people able to marshal still. I'm sure there may be a college out there however who would support such a proposal. Balliol has considered a similar regatta for lower boats (see last Captains' meeting agenda). Don't underestimate how much organisation is involved though....
RE: Michaelmas Bumps
Rob Ryan robryanrowing@yahoo[dot]co[dot]uk	10:22, 3rd Feb 2010 30 weeks ago
The quality of marshalling would be better than you are used to in Torpids, because everyone will be a second/third year. There will be no first years marshalling, umpiring, rowing, or coxing. There would be only two divisions per sex taking part in a Michaelmas Bumps (25 crews), which is less than the number of rowing colleges at Oxford. So, there will probably be no second boats. Consequently, there will be less seniors rowing than row in Torpids, and therefore there will be more experienced people available to marshall, not less. The real problem here is that those asked to marshal won't be able to row in the event - there is too little time between the two races each day. So, although there will be plenty of second/third year boaties available, could they be coersed into marshalling? Only boat club captains can answer this point for their clubs. If the required people are not prepared to help, then the club won't be able to enter, and I suspect that the event might therefore be under-subscribed. However, if I am wrong, and there is a lot of interest, and boat club captains think they can provide the required marshals ... and they would rather do bumps than a head race, then the event should be put on. The only real way to test this point is to put it on the agenda of the next captains meeting.
RE: Michaelmas Bumps
Tom C thomas.chapman@chem	12:00, 3rd Feb 2010 30 weeks ago
Don't forget rob, that you need twice as many volunteers to run a bumps race as a head race. You need marshals and committee to brief them for both events. But for bumps you need the same again to do the umpiring side. Some of this is offset by the lack of timing, but the only likely people you are to see are the clubs who train on the isis, as coming back for a weekend regatta isn't exactly a great use of time. The bulk of the clubs who train on the Isis (1st VIII's) tend not to have very large standing squad numbers, hence you're going to be relying on clubs finding old members to fill the slots. I suggest you get the captain at whichever college you are currently representing to put in a motion for the next CM.
RE: Michaelmas Bumps
Ben benjamin.mansfield@oriel	20:42, 3rd Feb 2010 30 weeks ago
What is wrong with Nephthys Regatta? It is in 7th week so you have all term to train and don’t have to bother coming back early for City Bumps. I appreciate that college rowers have an insatiable appetite for breaking equipment but there is a lot of merit in being able to race crews based on your speed now, rather than that of past generations. It is the only opportunity that a fast, but low college, a role that Wolfson has filled for the past few years, would have to race a crew in the top half of div 1. It is the only chance to do some side by side racing on the Isis, with no distractions such as finals, etc. but this year there were only a six entries for senior men and the same for the women. Taking this year as my only experience of the race management, the lightweights also tend to be a fairly reasonable bunch when it comes to organising a regatta. There is racing available but it would appear that there is just not the appetite for it.
RE: Michaelmas Bumps
Tom C thomas.chapman@chem	11:29, 4th Feb 2010 30 weeks ago
Nepthys can be a very good regatta, it can also be disastrous. It can be very hard to predict how it will run until the day. Personally I'd love to see more crews entered, mainly for support of the squad, but also for the reasons detailed above. Side-by-side racing is something that a lot of college rowers never really experience and is very fun. Hopefully of the back of last years very successful event we will see a lot of entries for what is generally a missed opportunity for college rowers.
RE: Michaelmas Bumps
JR jonathan.ross@pmb	14:53, 4th Feb 2010 30 weeks ago
I think this highlights the issue of a lack of racing in Oxford, but unfortunately I don't think this can be solved by more racing on the Isis. The vast majority of 1st eights don't train there, and so won't trailer/row back there to race opposition which might not give them much of a race - I realise that this is a Catch 22 situation and I don't know how to solve it. Rather, I'd like to see Oxford crews racing outside of the bubble a bit more often and I'd love to see OURCs taking more of a lead in this. For example would it be possible for OURCs to buy a big trailer (the type that can take an entire school's boats on training camp with some inventive layouts and underslinging) and run a cost price trailering service to a local regatta every fortnight or so. I haven't raced nearly enough in my rowing career, whether because it's been too much hassle, because we've missed training because of river conditions, etc. and yet I know Pembroke races externally more than most so it would be great if something could be done about it
RE: Michaelmas Bumps
Tom C thomas.chapman@chem	20:43, 4th Feb 2010 30 weeks ago
That's an interesting idea, it is something that has been in every row-sab manifesto for the last few years. However the logistics are pretty tough, especially, as you say, most 1st VIII's train off-isis. External regattas are a great laugh, and i'd encourage any crew to give it a go, particularly two day ones over the summer. However if you look at the racing calendar, (http://www.britishrowing.org/racingcalendar) the most suited regattas tend to fall out of term time. The best thing for the colleges interested in external events would be to get in contact with the squad captains for the local clubs about sharing trailering to the events they are doing as that could be a very mutually beneficial agreement.
RE: Michaelmas Bumps
RQ quarrell@herald	11:52, 7th Feb 2010 30 weeks ago
One question - has anyone bothered to ask the boatmen if they would be willing to pole off for a third event in the year? While it looks like common sense, poling off isn't _that_ easy, and hard to learn to do it well when you're not that experienced a rower, who may not have a good understanding of how water moves boats. [Most people could wield the pole, but quite a lot would struggle to give good instructions to the coxes and crews.] I'd doubt whether, with senior crews rowing, and marshalling, there would be enough good polers outside the boatmen to guarantee enough available. Arguably the colleges who do Isis Bumps don't necessarily take it as maniacally seriously as they do the OURCs bumps, so can afford to make a few mistakes. Most of the boatmen earn much more from their other activities than they do from poling off, so there's no real reason they would necessarily say yes to doing it for yet another event, and this time one which isn't historic, doesn't include every crew, and isn't in their current contracts. Anyway, someone should ask them, and work out how to cover that aspect if they say no.
RE: Michaelmas Bumps
Rob Ryan robryanrowing@yahoo[dot]co[dot]uk	10:16, 9th Feb 2010 29 weeks ago
Yes, I think this is just one of several organisational issues that planners would need to look into. I have tried to make my proposal as simple as possible in order for it to get off the ground, but issues still remain. However, anything new presents issues, of course, and issues are there to be solved. Would it be easier if a Michaelmas Bumps was held in IVs (like City Bumps) rather than in VIIIs? This would not solve the poling-off issue, but would make it easier for clubs with smaller standing memberships to take part, and would prevent the hassle of clubs that train outside Oxford having to bring their rowing eights back to the Isis for a single weekend. Each club that enters would then be required to provide just 7 2nd/3rd year boaties to take part: four rowers, a cox, and two officials (an umpire and a marshall), each able to supervise 4 races. This would provide the manpower for an umpire for every crew in every race, and 13 marshalls for every race to dot along the course. Would this be enough, or would an 8th person be required? Either way, I think a Michaelmas Bumps is do-able, provided there is the will to set it up and to take part. CORC have shown what is possible, with a bit of drive and vision. Their City Bumps was described by one of my respondents as "an excellent little regatta, really good laugh and well enjoyed be every college crew i've seen enter". I think a Michaelmas Bumps would also be well enjoyed, much more so than the head races it would replace.
RE: Michaelmas Bumps
tom c thomas.chapman@chem	13:03, 9th Feb 2010 29 weeks ago
It could even be run according to the BR rules as an official regatta, and then we could invite external crews, a nice addition to the run of the mill college rowers paddling up and down malarky.
RE: Michaelmas Bumps
Rob Ryan robryanrowing@yahoo[dot]co[dot]uk	21:33, 9th Feb 2010 29 weeks ago
This is an exciting prospect, and if you think that it would sell better than my idea, then let's go for it! I fear, however, a howl of abuse on two counts: that it is not strictly intercollegiate and (again) the problem of finding enough marshalls and umpires. There are those who are keen to keep Torpids and Eights strictly student only (so no CORC, Falcon and Academicals) and strictly Oxford colleges only (so no OXiLP), and who might see an OURCs open bumps regatta as the thin end of the wedge. There is something special about inter-college rivalry, safeguarded by this principle, but my views here may be out of date. Another respondent said that he felt City Bumps was intercollegiate, even though most crews were not from Oxford Colleges. If this is the general feeling, then I may have been wrong on this issue. Your proposal has some distinct advantages over mine. In addition to your own comments, it might bring external money into OURCs coffers (assuming the event made a profit), and if CORC/Falcon/Academicals are taking part, we may be able to forego the Sunday river closure. We could then have three divisions per sex, rather than just two. A Michaelmas open bumps regatta in IVs would partner City Bumps well, in the same way that Torpids partners Summer Eights, so I don't think there would be criticism that the event was an unnecessary duplicate. But, what about the marshals and umpires???? I identified this as a key issue in my very first post, and I think the numbers work for a strict intercollegiate regatta, especially in IVs. But would it work for an open regatta? CORC makes City Bumps work - could they help out? We can't hand the event over for CORC to run (assuming they were interested, after their big bash in August), as I'm certain they would want it earlier in the year, to better guarantee good river conditions, which may make it difficult for Oxford Colleges to take part. If anyone else has ideas on how to make a Michaelmas Bumps work better, I'd love to hear from you.

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