19 June 2025

By Mark Blandford-Baker

Ed Archibald is truly unique having taken the Headship 20 years apart, Mark Blandford-Baker writes.

Bumps racing is a niche part of the sport of rowing, and has its roots in Oxford and Cambridge Universities, where twice a year, it still thrives as the principal inter-collegiate competition.

Insurers, Treasurers, Boatmen and spectators hold their breath as eights chase each other down the river intent on bumping the one in front to move up the starting ladder the following day. Having bumped the two crews should stop and pull into the bank (there are circumstances where one may continue but that is not for this article). The crews are split up into divisions and the top boat of one division is seeking to bump into the bottom of the division above. The crew at the top of the first division is ‘Head of the River’. The starting order is determined by the finish order of the previous year, and they are different for Torpids (Feb/March) and Eights Week (May/June). In both events the racing is over four days, Wednesday to Saturday.

Inevitably, there is a high degree of luck in the progress of a crew. Strength, skill, speed, steering, all vital of course – but the line taken, the risk not getting past a tangle in front (usually caused by two crews having bumped not clearing the racing line swifty, a common issue on an unstraight and busy river). Even in the top divisions such issues can play havoc with the form book.

So to be in a Head crew is something special, particularly one which bumps up to position 1 and then holds it during the rest of the week. Some might be in a Head crew in successive years if no challenger catches them.

This story is about someone who has had the Headship twice, 20 years apart. Surely a unique feat.

Ed Archibald started rowing at Melbourne Grammar School in 1989, where he was Captain of Boats in 1993. He then rowed for Melbourne University Intervarsity crew in 1994 and 1996. Pitching up at Oxford as a graduate student, to read for an M.Phil in Development Studies, he found his way into the 6 seat of the Magdalen College 1st VIII in 2005. MCBC had taken the Headship in 2004 for the first time in fifty years, and retained it in 2005 and 2006, when Ed was in the 6 seat for the second year running.

After graduating Ed lived overseas in a range of different countries between 2006 and 2018, including postings to Sri Lanka and Malawi as an Australian diplomat and UN official respectively. He didn’t do any rowing during those years, although did do a lot of mountain biking and a few triathlons. 

Ed, his wife Susan and their three children moved back to Oxford in 2018 when Ed decided to return to academia and read for a D.Phil in Politics, which he began in 2023. He decided to go to Wolfson College as he had heard they had a good rowing programme and were well place in Torpids and Eights. Now 48 he was not sure about returning to the commitment rowing requires alongside serious academic work, and how it would fit with those in their mid-20s. A call from Wolfson Head Coach, Rory Copus, provided a land training programme and a full season of rowing ensued, but included the frustration of the Summer Eights week beginning and ending 4th on the river.

2025 began with high hopes. Ed took the 6 seat of the Wolfson first eight; they started second on the river and bumped Christ Church on the first day to go Head before rowing over in front of Oriel for the next three days. Great result but Torpids isn’t Eights when it comes to status.

Trinity Term got under way and the crew had been training together for months, there was just one change from the Torpid crew, with the stroke of the Oxford Blue Boat, Nico Kohl, now in the 6 seat. Ed moved back to 4.

The first two days went smoothly, bumping Keble (in the Gut) and then Christ Church (just after Donnington Bridge). On the Friday they are starting 2nd behind Oriel and played it easy. Gaining some ground on them but not going full throttle. The intention was to surprise them by going flat out on Saturday and see if they could catch them in the first couple of minutes. Judging by Oriel’s comments on the Finish Line on Friday, they clearly felt unthreatened.

Ed says of the Saturday: “The rest is history. I don’t care how we got the Headship or how their rudder broke – an overcorrection by the cox or otherwise. We meticulously checked and rechecked our boat every day. We worked hard, put ourselves in a position to win, and got lucky. Equipment failure is part of the sport, as it is in many others. And, as one of my old rowing friends from Melbourne – Nic Boileau – used to say, “the harder you work, the luckier you get.” Ultimately, the bumps chart has us at the top – first time ever for Wolfson. I turn 50 this September. Not a bad early birthday present.”

He goes on to comment: “It’s been an incredible privilege to have won Headships at both Magdalen and Wolfson, 20 years apart. Of course, a big part is just being in the right place at the right time. I treasure the memories of the 2005-6 Headships, and many of us still keep in touch on a regular basis. But rowing at Wolfson has been equally rewarding and enjoyable. Dare I say even a different type of satisfaction, given my age. Rory’s coaching is a delight, and the M1 boys are a lot of fun. They seem to fully accept and embrace someone who is roughly twice their average age and not far off the age of their parents. We joke about my age, of course, and that I have an 18-year-old son heading off to university later this year. But I very much feel a peer of my crewmates, no question.” The sums up so well what so many of us feel about and get out of rowing. Ed is, I am willing to bet, unique in having been Head twice, 20 years apart. An extraordinary feat, as well as luck.