Wear the willow or catch a crab at Cambridge Bumps

By Paul Casciato

CAMBRIDGE, England (Reuters) - Have you been crashing delicate rowing boats at top speed, catching crabs and showing off your race starts for spectators at the Plough?

If you have, then you've been at the Cambridge Town Bumps this week participating in a rowing tradition that is more than 160 years old and takes over the banks of the River Cam for four hopefully balmy July nights every year.

Both Oxford and Cambridge universities hold their own student versions of these races twice a year, but only Cambridge boasts its own for townies, where anyone who can put a crew of eight together has a chance to wear the willow that signifies race victory on a night.

"The glory of the Bumps is that everyone can have a go," former Cambridge University chief coach and ex-New Zealand international Duncan Holland told Reuters.

About one percent of the 100,000 or so residents in Cambridge actually row in the bumps, while thousands more line the banks and pubs like the Plough along the river to cheer on normally mild-mannered townsfolk thrashing down the river.

The bumping race concept is fairly simple.

Boats containing eight crew are lined up along the river about a boat length and a half behind each other. A crew must catch the boat in front to get a "bump."

Getting a bump earns the crew the right to adorn themselves with strips of willow from trees along the bank. But it also means the crew advances one starting position for the next night and must chase -- usually -- a faster crew.