Summer Eights
Summer Eights is Oxford's main intercollegiate rowing regatta, four days of bumps races on the Isis in Trinity term; its winter counterpart in Hilary term is called Torpids. Crews of eight rowers and a cox from every college race in divisions over the stretch of the Thames below Folly Bridge.
In practice
The river is too narrow for side-by-side racing, so the boats start in a line, one behind another, and each tries to catch and touch the boat in front - a "bump". A crew that bumps moves up the order for the next day; over the four days the order of colleges changes, and the boat at the top of the first division is "Head of the River". A crew that bumps on every day earns its blades, a painted oar kept by each rower.
Why it matters to newcomers
Eights week, usually in late May, is one of the best free days out in Oxford: walk through Christ Church Meadow to the towpath and the college boathouses, where crowds cheer from the bank. Torpids, in late winter, is colder and quieter. Either way, wear shoes that can handle a muddy path.
Related
- The Isis - the river the races are rowed on
- Michaelmas, Hilary and Trinity - the terms that set the racing calendar
- May Morning - Oxford's other early-summer crowd
Source: University of Oxford: dates of term.