Results and reports by Event

After a decent week of training and Gabriel boldly predicting our ragtag crew to smash the course record with a time of 5:10, we set our sights high. Unlike certain other boat clubs we believe we only get one shot in events like these. We set off from a standing start at grassy corner with the rate high as we passed the start line. GOing towards Ditton JT had us hitting rate 35/36, which is what we were aiming for at this point. Coming out of Ditton we hit our stride, the strokes were long and we had a decent rhythm.

It was at this stage that off in the distance we saw Downing taking an unconventional line around Ditton why seemingly crashed into the outside corner. We can only assume that either they realised they weren't rowing fast enough and decided to bin themselves, or this was part of a cunning plan to get in a decent practice start before then going on to race again in div 2. Half way down the reach Clem called for 20 strong strokes to finish the reach. Maybe 40 painful strokes later we hit the bridge, with tunnel vision setting in. Coming out of the railway bridge with about 50 strokes left of the course we took the rate up to about 36. Even though we were tired, the quality remained high and we finished the race with a decent amount of boat speed.

Naturally we wanted to lay down the gauntlet for the start of the Mays campaign with a win at the Rad Mile, building on the success of previous years. Maybe after seeing Downing bombing out we settled for a lower boat speed than what we should have. Given that we were roughly half M1 half M2, with the big trio Ricci, Peter and Steve yet to arrive, I think we can be happy with this result. Stay tuned for more victories from M1 and M2 in the coming weeks.

Uploaded Sunday 15th April, 16:56