Preston - another successful day in the North West

Preston - another successful day in the North West

Once again Worcester managed to coerce two full boats of keen paddlers to make the journey to Preston! Including some ‘first-time racing’ paddlers.

First race of the day – Dragons! And what a race, Amathus, Pershore Pheonix and the Dragons. Dragons pulling hard and fast off the start line, dropping into stroke and feeling the surge of power throughout the race keeping it together for a second place  only one second behind Amathus taking them straight into the semi finals as the fastest heat runner ups.

Second Race – Dragonflies against BA, Secklow and Thames Raging Bulls. So many red tops on the water at the same time showing full team spirit keeping the timing spot on with lifts when asked for really pulling together, but taken forward into the reps where once again with a quick turn around and warm up on the way to the start managed a second place taking them into the tail race final which was a 5 boat race!

With the endurance of the rain, the wind, the music and the medieval cooking throughout the day the spirit was remaining high throughout both of the crews.  

Into the 500s with about a 10 minute lunch break – first race Dragons drawn against Secklow and Amathus Bees where the Dragons came into their own and won taking them straight into the Cup semi final. They were then drawn against Secklow, Raging Dragons and Typhoon Tigers where they fought for a close second to Raging, putting them in the Cup Major Final.

Dragonflies 500m race was drawn against Raging Fury and BA bringing them a substantial second taking them into the plate semi finals and on into the Plate Major finals.

All in all a good racing day which included bling for the Dragonflies for a fantastic 2^nd place in the Plate competition and maximum league points for the Dragons with a top 4 finish in the Cup.  A precarious one for Maggie and Emily – Maggie for holding onto the Dragons in the final when the wash came through quite hard and fast moving us from lane 4 into lane 5 and back again, and Emily who I have never seen cling on so tight to a drum before!

Roll on Worcester!!