A Day At The Races

The Summer Eights are here again!

Since Wednesday all of Oxford's students have been making their way down past Christ Church Meadow to the college boathouses along the river in order to witness the most important intercollegiate athletic event of the year: the Summer Eights regatta.

Collegiate sports are not as big a part of Oxford life as they are on most American campuses.  Many of the colleges do have an inter-mural team or two, particularly for sports like rugby and croquet. Our friend Taylor Luczak, who played college basketball back home, is trying to join the Trinity College basketball team for a few games.  Typically these are just hobbies.  Rowing, however, is the major exception.

The University of Oxford holds three main regattas throughout the year.  The Christ Church Regatta is the shorter race for novices held during Michaelmas term (fall) while more serious rowers participate in Torpids during Hillary term (spring) and the Summer Eights in Trinity term (summer).
Eights Week or Summer Eights is the most important race of the year save for the annual Boat Race against arch-rival the University of Cambridge which takes place in London.

A women's crew prepares to launch.

  Today most of the MSU group went down to our college boathouses to catch the final day of races.  Thousands of students were lounging by the riverside, grilling and enjoying the unusually-sunny weather. Some were even sporting full boating attire: pastel-colored pants, waistcoats or jackets, and straw punting hats which would look out-of-place anywhere else. It felt like a scaled-down version of a football tailgate, minus the barbeque and cowbells.  There were a few cows out in the Meadow though, and some were wandering over to the fence separating the Meadow from the immediate riverside to see what all the commotion was about.

There are men's and a women's brackets, and colleges will often field multiple men's and women's teams of varying skill.  The best row in Division 1 with the other teams rowing in lower divisions. Each crew consists of eight rowers (hence "Summer Eights") and a coxswain who coordinates the team.
 
 Those of us studying at Christ Church made our way to our boathouse, the last on the row.  It was at one point likely a very nice building, but with the crowds out today, it was cramped and a little dirty. Some of the other colleges have much larger and newer facilities.  The "Greek" culture of fraternities and sororities which dominates many American campuses is unheard of here, but for today the row of college boathouses and the various factions of supporters made for a close substitute.

Khanh Nguyen at the Christ Church boathouse

The racing seems to be a rather convoluted process, but as it was explained to us by some students at the Christ Church boathouse, the section of the Thames river running through Oxford, called the Isis, is too narrow for the boats to row abreast.  Instead they have a series of bumps races. The competing crews have a staggered start, and each boat aims to overtake the boat in front of it.  This is called "bumping," and once a crew bumps the crew ahead of it, both crews drop out of the race, allowing other teams to pass.  In the next race, the bumper and bumpee will switch starting positions. Races for each division take place daily, and the overall leader at the end of the week is named Head of the River for the year.  Heads of the River are "bladed," receiving trophy oars from their college which feature the crew members' names, their weights, and the year of their achievement. Crews may also be bladed if they manage to bump the crew ahead of them in every race, a difficult feat. The blades are often featured prominently in the college bars.  Christ Church has quite a collection.


From the roof of the Christ Church boathouse we had a commanding view of the entire scene.  Crews were launching from the various docks along the river and heading east, downriver.  Meanwhile, a steady stream of boats was racing back upriver.  A team would be bump every now and again, and a cry and a cheer would go up from the respective boathouse.  Being new to Oxford, we didn't know all the college colors and had a hard time keeping up with the results.  I read later that the winner of the Men's 1st VIII was Oriel College and the women's was Pembroke College.  Each crew was name 2012 Head of the River.

View of the river traffic with college boathouses on right.

Boats approaching the finish line. The smoke is from all the grills set up by spectators.

After watching the rowers for about an hour, the MSU group headed back upriver towards the Christ Church Meadow and spread out some picnic blankets.  We lounged around and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon. The wind picked up and Khanh jokingly loaned me some hair clips (see below).  We also discussed what other events on the Oxford social calendar we wanted to attend.  Christ Church is hosting a big Jubilee concert next month which seems appealing.

Khahn and Ben lounging by the Meadow after the races.

Khanh didn't like the pic of her at the airport, so in order to keep it up, I've posted this one of me. (Note: hair clips)

Melissa Atchley

Cameron Clarke

We had a fun afternoon and really enjoyed the opportunity to mingle with our fellow Oxford students in an informal setting.  We also learned a lot about rowing which is not a common sport in most schools in the American South.