Bristol - bring on the summer!
Bristol - bring on the summer!
Just the name brings back memories of incessant, torrential rain, BUT not this year! The sun welcomed us to the floating harbour venue, and beat down on us all day. The challenge for the day was how to find shade...
The Dragons raced their first of many races against Henley, we enjoyed a decent start, controlled the middle and put in a cracking finish. Off we trooped back slapping each other at winning our first race, only to discover that the “straight” finish line had other ideas. There was widespread confusion, even Nigel was seen querying the result! However it was still a quick enough time to qualify for the semis.The Flies started with a tough heat against BA, Notts and Exe-Calibre. Despite looking strong and disciplined, they came fourth half a boat behind Notts and Exe-Calibre. This led to the reps, where they met up with BA and Notts again and Wraysbury who were to be the Flies closest competition today. BA and Notts clashed, allowing Worcester and Wraysbury to fight to the line, Wraysbury winning this time from the favoured lane 4.
The Dragons were to have an entertaining semi final. They lined up in the inside lane, alongside Raging Dragons, Kingston and BA. The start was immense, Worcester and Kingston were neck and neck, just as in Exeter two weeks previously, BA were close behind in the outside lane, but where were Raging? Unknown to the Worcester crew Raging were struggling in the combined wake and veered off towards the back of Kingston’s boat and spectacularly capsized! Meanwhile up ahead the race continued with Kingston holding on to win, BA followed closely in second, whilst Worcester achieved another 52 second run. The scene of astonishment at the finish line when we looked around for Raging was beaten only by the chaos surrounding their upturned boat half way down the course! Fortunately the crew were all safely accounted for, even if one or two decided they ought to paddle in buoyancy aids after all...
Next the Flies faced Notts in their final 200m, Notts forgot to crash this time and squeezed ahead by half a boat length.
Time for round 2 of the Henley – Worcester contest, The Minor Final was contested by Henley, Worcester, Cool Runnings and Exe-Calibre. The start was strong again, but we were only a fraction ahead as we approached the final 30 strokes, Russ demanded more, we responded and powered to victory almost a second clear of Henley, Cool and Exe-Calibre. A good 5th place result, winning maximum standard league points.
By this stage the programme times were becoming a joke. Dragons were drawn in the first 500m against Henley, but on arriving at the SS Great Britain were surprised to find no sign of the starter! 20 mins later he arrived and promptly took another 20mins to get the racing started... (moan, moan,moan) and there we were stuck in the middle of the dock “enjoying” the 25 degree heat!?
Finally we raced the 500m just pipping Henley to make it 2:1 Worcester.
The Flies in the third heat faced Colenorton, Bristol, and Exe-Calibre. They had endured an even longer wait behind the start line! Fourth position was no disgrace in this company.
They raced Cool Running, Secklow and Wraysbury in their rep, coming third in a much improved performance, cutting 5 seconds off their time. In the semi they chased Colenorton and Secklow home. The final race illustrated their superiority over Wraysbury beating them by 2 clear boat lengths.
Another fantastic day for the Flies, really showing what they’re made of !
The Dragons faced Thames Taniwhas, Cool Runnings and you guessed it Henley in their semi. The start times were still hopeless. This was another extremely close race. Worcester were up off the start, just. Henley pulled level, then Thames went for a push, Worcester responded easing ahead slightly, Thames came again, Worcester went for the line, a little too early... Thames were beaten, but Henley crept past on the line. That's 2:2 on the day, but we lost the important one, damn. Race time 1st Henley 1:59:36, 2nd Worcester 1:59:59 and 3rd Thames 2:00:59. An excellent race, just the wrong result.
The Cup Minor Final lined up Thames Taniwhas, Worcester, Notts and Raging Dragons. On paper Notts were within 0.04 sec of our time, and were the only standard team able to prevent our perfect start to the season. A very focused Worcester crew took to the water. Ben had a word or two “trust, confidence”, something like that and then we were racing. Another strong start left Thames trailing on our inside, they were calling up, up, up whilst we stayed “calm” and kept our composure, approaching the finish we waited until they lifted, held them and then pushed for the line, we won by almost a second. Another cracking race, which proved our race plan can work under pressure.
This was not however the final race for the Worcester Ladies. They had reformed the Severn Belles crew with 4 of the Pershore Phoenix to challenge Kinston Royals and Secklow in the final race of the day. Off the start Secklow were dropped, the Belles were less than a head behind Kingston, who were looking a bit ragged (by their standards) and the Belles were looking good. Kingston put in a final push for the line to secure victory, but were pushed all the way to the line. Next time ladies, next time...