A recap on a tough year for the Torpids, and where we're heading next!

Torpids is one of the two main intercollegiate-only 'bumps' competitions that happen annually in Oxford.  Bumps racing essentially turns a non-contact sport into a contact sport - every boat (in a given division) rows off at once and the aim is to catch the crew in front as quickly as possible, ideally before the crew behind catches you!

Read on for a day-by-day, blow-by-blow account of our Torpids campaign...

Women's 1st Boat

Wednesday
The SABC W1 came into Torpids with high spirits, which never dipped throughout our campaign, despite any pressure on our shoulders from racing in Division 2.  The first day of racing saw us starting uncomfortably close to the starting gun, and we chased Brasenose W1 all the way down the course, gaining half a length on them immediately off a very strong start, but not quite maintaining the pace to catch them, in the process unfortunately being caught by St Edmund “Teddy” Hall W1 along Greenbanks.  Since Teddy had been themselves caught by a blades-bound Lincoln W1, we found ourselves -2 places, but felt confident about chasing down Teddy the next day.

Thursday
Thursday saw us right next to the starting gun and being chased by a strong and hungry Balliol W1 crew, which eventually caught us.  However, we had Teddy in our sights.  Again launching off a particularly strong and clean start, we caught Teddy by surprise, chasing them down to within half a length by the entrance to the gut, where their coxswain took a wide and inefficient line.  Capitalising on this, we initiated a backs-out push, although fatefully perhaps 15 strokes too early.  Despite getting overlap on Greenbanks, and screaming ‘concede!’ as loud as we could, Teddy held their pace just enough to avoid physical contact, and stayed ahead until the end of the course, resisting push after push.  Our W1 had given so much that one of our crew blacked out due to a combination of fatigue and an underlying medical condition, prompting a visit from the medical launch.  Luckily nobody came to any serious harm, and we came away from Thursday very proud of the effort we had put in as a crew.

Friday
Friday was an important day for the W1, which found itself battling its old nemesis Somerville W1 on the bungline behind us.  Despite two substitutions, and our brilliant Hazel Bott switching sides and stepping in as strokeseat, we felt set and ready as we spun onto our bungline, with plenty of time left to calm our nerves.  Yet another beautiful start saw us close half a length on Balliol, but a bigger problem came from behind, where Somerville had put everything into their first 400m.  They closed to within a canvas through the gut, but a well-timed push and laser focus meant that they never caught us, and we stretched out, pulling two lengths ahead down Greenbanks alone, and ending up four lengths clear at the finish.  In what may have even been our best row of the week, we felt we had done ourselves justice.

Saturday
Our Saturday row saw us being chased by the blades-bound Mansfield W1, who caught us quickly under Donnington bridge.  Coming full-circle almost, we had Brasenose to catch in front of us, and a similar story prevailed from our first day of racing, which seemed like an age ago.  We focused on making a clean and strong row past boathouse island and paddled across the finish with our heads held high, eagerly anticipating all the Pimm’s and smiles that awaited us at the boathouse.
 
Our Torpids campaign, despite leaving us -4, left us comfortably in Division 2, with a fantastic platform to build off for both our next Torpids campaign, and of course the upcoming Summer VIIIs – we hope to see many of you at the boathouse!

Guy Rudman
​W1 Coxswain

Men's 1st Boat

Wednesday
M1 had a challenging Hilary term which saw red flag river conditions, difficulty coordinating timetables, and a boat-reshuffle with some new faces due to previous crew members having exams. This left our crew little time to experience rowing together and work on their technique, but they remained keen for racing despite everything.
Going into Torpids, the crew was primarily novice; this was the first regatta for several crew members. Our Wednesday line-up was strong, with a former SABC president and the current men's captain bringing us a lot of experience and power. Unfortunately, an uncoordinated start resulted in an early bump by University M2, a particularly strong and blade-bound crew in Division IV this year. We came close to bumping New M2, but they unfortunately bumped out before we could catch them. Faced with lots of open water ahead, the crew began to fatigue and were then bumped again by St Edmund Hall M2 near the St Anne's boathouse.

Thursday
Thursday saw us lose the men's captain as he departed for New Zealand, but we gained a friendly sub from Merton College and were coxed by the current SABC president. We rowed very well, keeping Jesus M2 at bay for much of the race despite multiple serious equipment issues! Not only had 7-seat’s shoe broken away from the footplate, but by Donnington Bridge an unlucky cox box malfunction meant that our cox couldn’t be heard. This led to much confusion in the boat and ultimately a bump from Jesus M2 after one of our rowers caught a crab.

Friday
On Friday, the M1 was composed of an entirely novice crew and had two subs from other colleges. The atmosphere was dreary with Division IV being the only race for which it rained. Despite the weather, one crew member’s shirtless antics gained the attention of the infamous OxRow Facebook page. Unfortunately, the M1 had a poor start, catching a crab early on and getting them bumped by Magdalen M2, shortly followed by Balliol M2. The Balliol bump was part of a complex sandwich boat situation, handled well by our cox, which led to a complicated appeal regarding row-past bumps - the crew would like to thank our bankrider Sam Davis for handling this and making sure that we got a fair outcome!

​Saturday
Saturday’s crew contained multiple subs again but also saw us regain Leo White and Brad, two SABC veterans! The boat had a slow start and were bumped by Regents Park M1, but managed to gain very well on Balliol, closing the gap to half a length before swans in the racing line led to the race being klaxoned. Thankfully, this saved us from having to row the full course for the fourth day in a row, but it also sadly meant that we couldn’t bump Balliol to save the crew from Spoons.
 
Torpids 2023 culminated in another set of spoons for the men but the M1 remains in Division IV for next year, and the crew look forward to holding their ground in Summer Eights.
 
James Durant
M1 Strokeseat

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