As part of the setup for bumps racing, stakes are driven into the grass next to the towpath at even intervals downstream of Donnington Bridge. These then have lengths of rope attached to them with a wooden disc at the end, which together form a bungline. When lining up for the start, the cox of each crew holds on to the end of the bungline — this makes sure that each crew is in the right place1.
The bunglines are numbered downstream, and starting positions are typically referred to using the bungline number; the top of a given division will attach at bungline one, and the sandwich boat of the division will be at bungline thirteen.
Footnotes
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Coxes often contort themselves to get the disc of the bungline as far behind them as possible, in order to get their crew closer to the crew in front and further away from the crew behind. ↩