Henley Dragons at the Worcester BDA League Event

With worries about whether the racecourse would be dry in time for race day after the recent British monsoon season, there was relief all round when it was announced that the BDA Worcester event would be held in Worcester after all.

And so the day arrived and got off to a nervous start, with the weather forecast suggesting a day of showers and the team praying it wasn't going to be a repeat of the Bristol event.  The occasional showers as the convoy approached Worcester didn't help to settle people's fears...  Upon arrival, gazebos were quickly hoisted and shelter was bagsied, although as it turned out it was protection against the sun that we needed!

The day of racing started off with some time for reflection on the recent death of Tim Ward, the former Chairman of Worcester Dragons.  The event was appropriately marked with a 30 second silence, followed by 30 seconds of cheering to celebrate his achievements and dedication to the sport.

After this emotional start, the racing kicked off.  We started the day with our first 200m race against Typhoon Tigers and BA Hurricanes.  With the team all warmed up and psyched up for the start, we were ready to go out and put up a good fight.  Alas it was not to be, with the team obviously not quite as psyched up as we thought we were and we put in a steady third place, 2 seconds behind BA and 4 seconds behind Typhoon.

Back on the bank, everyone braced themselves for the news that we were in the reps.  Except we weren't.  What?!  Turns out the program at Worcester didn't allow for reps or semis in the 200m, and instead the fastest 6 crews went straight through to the major and minor finals.  So our first 200m race of the day was in fact our last.

This gave us a sizeable break before the next race, with everyone taking the opportunity to get an early lunch, not quite knowing how the afternoon was going to pan out.  After ascertaining that Celia liked Nick's nuts, it was time to get back onto the water for the first of our 450m races.  In another change to the usual format, the 450m races were seeded based on performance in the 200m races. 

This time we found ourselves faced with Raging Dragons and WAM, and as we lined up on the start we had a point to prove.  Surely the morning's race wasn't a fair representation of the crew we were fielding...

Within a few minutes we had our answer - the morning's crew had been magically transformed into a slick racing machine which saw off both the opposition teams as we hurtled down the race course, beating Raging Dragons to the finish line by 0.5 seconds and WAM by 13.  Obviously not as comfortable a win as Malc would like (I'm not sure that's ever going to be possible) but it was enough for the rest of us!

Back on dry land again, we waited to find out when we would next be racing.  Over 2 hours later, we finally found ourselves back on the water with several team members wondering whether sunbathing for the entire of the break had in fact been the best plan.  Thankfully there was no sunburn in evidence and everyone seemed rather relieved to be back to the racing.

The Cup heat found us up against BA (again) and Kingston, our occasional arch-rivals.  The memories of the earlier defeat and the magical comeback inspired us on the start line and we put up a hard fight against both teams.  Unfortunately their sheer determination showed through and we found ourselves in 3rd, although there was a margin of less than 2 seconds between us and 1st place.

After another long break, it was time for the final race of the day.  This was it.  The one we'd been waiting for.  Our chance to secure our position in the National League, where we needed to see off Amathus Bees, our main competition.  As luck would have it, they were in the same race as us and the team were on a mission.

Without time for a practice start before the race, we found ourselves lined up against Amathus Bees and Raging Dragons (again).  It would seem that not practicing a start is a good thing, because within 50m we were up half a boat length on the other crews.  Unfortunately as soon as we realised that, we lost the advantage we'd gained and found ourselves battling neck and neck along the length of the course.  By the time we got to the end, everyone was too exhausted to know where we'd come.  There had been three horns very close together, but which one was ours?

As we pulled into the bank it was confirmed - Henley Dragons had won that race.  Woohoo!  So although that sterling effort had 'only' earned us 10th place, we ended the day on a high with everyone agreeing that it had been a fantastic race.  Thanks to Lauren from Bristol Empire for drumming for us all day, and Three cheers for the other crews!

Report by Isobel McLeod.