Day 1 saw hail, Day 2 saw sunshine and Day 3 saw snow. Nature did not disappoint on Day 4, as rain fell throughout the day. The cold and wet did not deter spectators, however, as there were still sizeable crowds spotted around Grassy Corner and the Plough. For those coaching and umpiring the towpath became a muddy skating rink resulting from a toxic mix of today’s rain and yesterday’s melted snow. Treacherous conditions led to many slips and slides for cycling umpires and coaches on the towpath, culminating in a dangerous crash when a cyclist, who was attempting to film a racing boat with a handheld recording device, lost control of their bike. Cycling whilst using a handheld recording device has since been banned.

Division 4 took a rest and as such W3 was the first race of the day, with six bumps taking place overall. Emmanuel W3 and Sidney Sussex W2 look poised to achieve blades tomorrow after bumping on all three days of racing so far.

A car appeared on the narrow towpath by Baits Bite Lock and proceeded to drive at high speed towards the A14 bridge.

M3 raced next who, after two days of hold ups, came very close to an emergency stop for a third time around Grassy Corner after numerous boats bumped out in close proximity. Boats were able to clear just in time for the race to continue, with five bumps being awarded. In this division, both Robinson M2 and Churchill M2 will be hunting blades on the final day of racing tomorrow.

The W2 division had the most action of the day, with seven bumps total and a possibility of blades on Saturday for Corpus Christi W1. Unfortunately, Lucy Cavendish W1, having earned spoons last year, were caught again today and are looking set to earn spoons for a second year running. The M2 division was relatively less eventful, with the top four crews all rowing over. Nevertheless, there were five bumps further down in the race. This division feature Hughes Hall, the highest climber of Lent Bumps so far, sitting at +5 presently. After bumping Jesus M2 on Tuesday, overbumping Darwin M1 on Thursday and bumping Wolfson M1 today, Hughes Hall will be wondering if they can turn the +5 into a +6 on the final day of competition.

Drama and the unexpected are almost inevitable in Cambridge’s unique rowing race but today’s W1 division saw one of the most bizarre incidents yet. With only three minutes to go before the start of the race, a car appeared on the narrow towpath by Baits Bite Lock and proceeded to drive at high speed towards the A14 bridge. With the safety of rowers and bank parties at risk the race had to be stopped just thirty seconds before the starting cannon was due to go off. Most crews had already pushed out and were getting ready to start before they were then pulled back in.

Once the car had left the towpath racing did eventually get underway. Churchill and Caius look poised to earn blades as they both bumped on the third consecutive day of racing. Jesus W1 continue to hold on to their headship which they won on Wednesday. Newnham, who started out in the headship position, are on a downward trajectory after being bumped three times already. Interestingly, Lady Margaret have neither bumped nor been bumped in the three days of racing so far, but will be looking to buck this trend and give Newnham spoons when they chase them tomorrow.

There was no change in the headship for the M1 division, with LMBC remaining in pole position and Caius in second. The battle for third place remains fraught, having changed hands three times already. Originally held by Downing it was taken by Pembroke on Day 2, only to be reclaimed by Downing on day 3 after a serious crash gave Downing a penalty bump. The Pembroke cox was disqualified. Pembroke reclaimed third place today but all is still to play for in the final day of competition tomorrow.

There were five bumps further down the division, with Trinity Hall, King’s and Magdalene looking like viable contenders for blades on Day 5. Churchill have had the miserable job of racing in the sandwich boat position every day so far after neither getting bumped down nor bumping up. Tomorrow will be Churchill’s last opportunity to escape the sandwich boat. Failure to do so will result in them having raced a total of eight times whilst most boats will have only competed four.

Tomorrow will be the last day of Cambridge’s unique rowing competition and as such the last day to spectate. The first race in the W4 division will be at 12:40 and the last division will be at 16:40.