Henley Dragons still smiling after 2 days of racing
After a successful season of racing in the National League and weeks of preparation, the Henley Dragons were off to Nottingham for the National Cup. The hotel was booked, the boat was loaded and the dragons were ready to go.
An advance party set off for Nottingham on Friday night to check out the hotel facilities and drop off the boat. The rest of the team arrived bright and early on Saturday morning, perhaps regretting their decisions to leave home in time to be in Nottingham by 8.15am...!
Shortly after 9am it was time to warm up for the first race - 'the most important race of the weekend so far'. This race was to decide whether the team would race in the Cup or Plate competition for the 200m Open competition. The early start may have sapped the team's energy but that didn't stop us finishing in the top 3 behind Batchworth and Typhoon Tigers, putting the team into the Cup competition.
After a particularly short rest (which was to become a recurring feature of the weekend) it was straight back onto the water for the heats. Unfortunately it didn't quite go to plan, finishing 5th out of 6 teams - in our defence, we were racing with a mixed crew while the other teams had open crews (i.e. more big strong men). Anyway, the upshot of it all was Henley heading for the reps (this was also to become a recurring feature).
After a quick study of the video (yes Malc had managed to get a camera and a cameraman) and minor alterations to the boat plan, it was back on the water for the reps, this time against Raging Dragons, Typhoon Tigers and others. Sadly the major final was slightly out of reach, and the minor final was to be the order of the day despite our time being faster than the first race of the day.
Another short break and quickly back on the water for the minor final. Lining up against BA and might-be-arch-rivals Kingston, it looked like we could be in with a chance. Giving it full force, we belted it down the course, only to find we finished 4th behind Kingston, BA and Secklow.
Overall result - 10th in the Open 200m.
Thankfully it was time for lunch and the team had a decent chance to relax. Pasta, sandwiches and tea were gobbled down to leave enough time for digestion and before we knew it, we were back on the water. Having finished the Open competition, it was time for the Mixed. Of course, this made no difference to Henley who competed with the same crew throughout but gave us a bit more of a chance against our rival crews!
The first race found us up against BA and it came as no great surprise to find ourselves in second place and not heading for the fastest loser spot. The reps came and went uneventfully with Henley third behind Typhoon Tigers and Amathus, and yes you guessed correctly - minor final. The minor final found us up against Amathus Bees and Raging Dragons, where the Henley team stood a great chance against the weakened mixed teams. Another exhausting race later and Henley were in third place.
A more interesting point based on the race timings is that, as you would expect, almost all teams slowed down when they introduced a mixed team (probably partly due to tiredness, to be fair). However there’s got to be a round of applause for the mixed teams from Kingston and BA, both of whom were faster by over a second compared to their respective Open crews!
Overall result - 9th in the Mixed 200m.
With the day nearly over, it was time for the least desired race of the weekend - the 1000m heats. After a heavy day of racing, we weren’t exactly convinced that it was going to go particularly well. We were in the first of the heats, so we had little idea of what we were in for. Luckily it all went well and we put in a respectable time of 4 minutes 42.1 seconds. This was enough to get us into the minor final, which was almost disappointing as it meant we had to do it all over again. Second time round, we actually managed to speed up and managed 4 minutes 40!
Overall result - 9th in the Open 1000m.
Thankfully, racing over for the day, it was back to the hotel for a takeaway dinner and watching the rugby on TV. Malc managed to convince the bartender to let us put the videos from the day on the TV and after half an hour of post-race analysis, it was off to bed to catch up on much needed sleep!
After the world’s slowest service at breakfast and a minor delay when Noel’s car wouldn’t start, everyone finally made it back to the National Water Sports Centre for Day 2. The day saw us competing in the 500m competitions, again as both an Open and a Mixed team, but in a change to the first day’s program the mixed competition took place first to ensure everyone was thoroughly exhausted for the feature competition in the afternoon!
Starting off with the heats, Henley continued their form for the weekend by safely guaranteeing a spot in the reps with a 2 minutes 15.66 second time. Luckily energy was in our favour by the second race, with a slightly improved time of 2 minutes 14.92. This was enough to get us into the minor final (surprise surprise) where we faced Raging Dragons and Amathus Dragon Jockeys. Putting in all the energy we had in our reserves, Henley were finally victorious, taking home first place by a margin of a second over Raging Dragons.
Overall result - 7th in the Mixed 500m.
Time for the final competition of the weekend, and of course the most important. The 500m Open competition. Starting off in the same format as the 200m race, there was a qualifier to determine which competition each team would compete in. To make sure we qualified for the Cup, we needed to be in the Top 3. Considering the competition, it looked feasible but that still didn’t mean it was going to be easy. With fortunes looking up, Henley managed to beat Typhoon down the course which has been pretty rare this season - albeit by less than 0.2 seconds! Having secured 2nd place, we were in the Cup. Phew.
Up against the 11 other top crews in the competition, it was always going to be a touch challenge and the reps were virtually certain. The heat was uneventful with all teams putting in a ‘sterling effort’ and Henley comfortably in the reps. The reps again uneventful, Henley were safely on course for a place in the minor final, and thus it was to be. The reps gave us a good chance to practice our secret weapon though: Allie wanted more inches, and she got them.
Techniques perfected (well, nearly), it was time for the minor final. The challenge was set: Henley were up against Kingston, BA, Secklow, Amathus Bees and Worcester. We were on the inside lane, far away from view of BA and hoping to sneak up on them. And 20m from the finish line, it looked like we had. BA were a few metres behind, clearly oblivious to Henley sneaking past them on the other side of the Regatta Lake. Then we were spotted. They did a push. We gave Allie more inches.
So what happened? Well, we got off the water not knowing where we had finished. Had we snatched second from under BA’s nose? As we lifted the boat out of the water the results came though: their push had succeeded and they beat us by a small margin.
Again, applause has to go to Kingston whose mixed team was 2 seconds faster than their Open team in the 500m race - maybe they should consider kicking the lads out permanently?!
Overall result: 9th in the Open 500m.
Desperately in need of relaxation and sleep, the team dissipated and headed down the M1 in search of home. Altogether a successful weekend, if a bit tiring.
Before I finish, we’d like to say a big thanks to Christian, Tom and Rhiannon for drumming on Saturday, to Ziggy for drumming on Sunday and to Jon (Isobel’s other half), Sam Hipgrave and Denny for filming most of the races.
Oh and remind me next year to organise a mini-bus so we don’t have to drive ourselves home after a whole weekend of racing!
Race Reporter: Isobel McLeod.
