Milton Keynes 2011 Race Report
No sooner had we started racing after the long summer break than
it was the last event of the National League, on the lake next to
the windmill in Milton Keynes.
As has been usual for Milton Keynes, it was windy, there was a
persistent cross wind that would come in to it's own for the 500m
starts.
After a little excitement first thing where Thames did a pretty
good job of demolishing a bollard with their trailer, only their
trailer lost.
As per usual, regardless of how long you have to get everything
ready, before you know it it's time for racing and our two crews
were raring to go. I would be racing in the Challengers crew this
time around.
First up were Challengers in a tough 200m heat against Tao,
Raging Dragons and Crusaders Saracens. After a bit of uncertainty
and uneasiness on the way to the start, and a wayward marker buoy
in the middle of our lane which we were told was the edge of the
lane, we eventually got away after the requisite amount of start
line faffing. The start wasn't bad, but we have done better, but it
was always a tough ask against Tao & Raging though we were a
bit disappointed to have been beaten into 4th place by
Crusaders Saracens in a time of 55.51s. Raging Dragons won the race
in 49.5s, Tao were 2nd in 50.2s and Crusaders Saracens
were 3rd in 55.3s.
Next up were Anaconda in their 200m heat against Typhoon Fury,
the old enemy Secklow 100 and welcome league returnees Cool
Runnings. Anaconda had a cracking start and powered away from the
other crews all the way down the course, from the bank you could
see them surging forward on each stroke, pulling further and
further ahead to finish 1st in a time of 48.22s, which
turned out to be the 2nd fastest time from the heats,
just 0.04s slower than Batchworth and nearly a second faster than
the next nearest team. Cool Runnings finished 2nd in
51.8s, Secklow were a surprising 3rd in 52.2s and
Typhoon Fury were 4th in 1m1.65s.
Into the reps Challengers went, up against Kingston Pretenders,
Hurricanes and Amathus Bees. We built on our experience from the
first race and had a much better race this time to some in
3rd in 55.62s, slightly slower that the first race but
feeling so much better, Hurricanes were 1st in 51.18s,
Pretenders were 2nd in 52.31s and slightly surprisingly
Amathus Bees were 4th in 58.69s. Even though we came in
3rd we still had 1 more race to go as today they were
taking the 200m races to a conclusion with a full set of tail
races.
After Anacondas dominant opening performance they now found
themselves in a tough semi against Worcester Dragons, Kingston
Royals and Thames Taniwas. We needn't have worried, once again
Anaconda powered their way to a storming victory in a faster time
than before, just 47.94s, Kingston were 2nd in 48.41s,
Worcester 3rd in 49.38s and Thames 4th in
49.79s. This time they had only the 3rd fastest semi
time, next stop another Major Final !
Challengers final 200m race would be against Raging Bulls and
Crusaders Saracens, we ended up 3rd in a time if 56.71s,
Crusaders Saracens were 1st in 54.55s and Raging Bulls
were 2nd in 55.08. Time to get dry, warm, fed &
watered ready for the 500m races.
Anaconda's final 200m race would see them contesting for top
spot in the 200m Major Final against Batchworth, Amathus and
Kingston. We were very surprised to not see Worcester Dragons or
Exe-Calibre in the final as they had been pretty regular contenders
all season. Anaconda came into the final with respectable times so
far but against Amathus and Batchworth it was going to be tough.
They got an absolute flyer, but then so did the other teams, it was
nip and tuck all the way down the course, no sooner had they
started than they had finished but no-one was sure who had won it.
The crew got moored up and unloaded and still we didn't know,
various squad members were hanging around the finish line officials
to see if they could get the scoop. We waited and waited for what
seemed like ages but was probably no more than 5 minutes before we
were told that we had won in a time of 47.58s, even faster than
last time and one of only two teams to improve their times in the
final, Kingston were the other but they didn't improve enough to
beat us. Kingston were 2nd in 47.86s, Amathus
3rd in 48.1s and Batchworth 4th in 48.36s.
It's not often that you see Amathus coming 3rd in a
final but today was one of those days. Top spot for Anaconda again,
Go Conda !!
It was about now that the heavens opened and we had the most
constant rain we have seen all season for a good couple of hours.
One benefit of this, if rain can have a benefit, was that the wind
dropped while it was raining.
After what seemed like a very short lunch break, it was time for
the 500m races to start. First up were Challengers in their heat
against Raging Bulls, Raging Dragons & Typhoon Tigers. All the
teams were milling around the start, or getting blown sideways by
the cross wind, we waited, and waited, and waited, and waited, then
the start line officials arrived to setup the start, only 15 mins
late !! Crews get penalised for being late to the start, what
happens if the starter is late ?
Once all crews managed to get in a line on the start line
together we finally got away and started our race. It was a pretty
good race for us, we seem to be more a 500m crew than a 200m crew
this season. As you would expect we came in 3rd in
2m16.41s, Typhoon were 1st in 2m3.34s, Raging Dragons
were 2nd in 2m4.14s and Raging Bulls were 4th
in 2m18.74s, next stop 500m reps.
Following their success in the 200m races, Anaconda had decent
break and went in the last 500m heat, they were up against Kingston
Pretenders and Secklow 100. Once again Anaconda stormed their heat,
finishing 1st in a stunning time of 1m58.41s, the
fastest 500m heat time of the day, Kingston were 2nd in
a rather pedestrian 2m5.90s and Secklow came in 3rd in
2m8.66s. What a start for Anaconda, they were really setting out
their stall for the 500m where they left off with the 200m.
Next up were Challengers in their 500m Plate Semi, against
Pershore Phoenix, Exe-Calibre Blades and Typhoon Fury. This was
another race were we sat on the start for ages, this time waiting
for Pershore, but this time it was due to changes in previous races
altering who was in what rep.
Eventually we got away and had a steady, hard race where
we eventually came in 3rd in a time of 2m16.03s,
Pershore were 1st in 2m10.06s, Exe-Calibre were
2nd in 2m13.56s and Typhoon Fury were 4th in
2m27.24s. Next stop Plate Minor Final, Go Challengers !!
Next stop for Anaconda was their Cup Semi against Typhoon
Tigers, Hurricanes and Kingston Pretenders. This was to be a much
tougher race than their previous 500m's, the lead ebbed back and
forth all the way down the course but in the end Anaconda prevailed
in a time of 2m1.36s, Hurricanes were hot on their tail in
2nd place in 2m1.64s, Typhoon were 3rd in
2m2.77s and Kingston came in 4th in 2m8.50s.
Challengers final 500m race would see them contest then Plate
Minor Final against Crusaders Saracens, Crusaders and Exe-Calibre
Blades. We got lined up, eventually, Paddlers Are You Ready,
Attention, Go, and we were off to a great start, we stayed with all
the other crews as we all powered down the course, as we passed the
200m start Anaconda were cheering us all on and Jackie was her
usual one person cheerleading section which gave us that little bit
more in our tanks, we kept going and going for what seemed like
ages then the helm called us down. Had we won, were we
1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th,
no one knew. Eventually we found out that we were placed
1st in a time of 2m20.22s, Crusagers were 2nd
in 2m20.61s, Exe-Calibre Blades were 3rd in 2m21.1s and
Crusaders Saracens were 4th in 2m21.40s.
Anaconda's final race would be in the 500m Major Cup Final, two
major finals in a day can't be bad. This was really going to be
tough, they were up against Worcester Dragons, Amathus and
Batchworth who would all be out for revenge for us winning the 200m
Major Final in the morning. Anaconda powered away from the start
and it was pretty tight all the way down the course, only near the
finish did Worcester an Amathus get away from us. We would
eventually finish 4th in 2m1.06s, Amathus were
1st in 1m59.26, Worcester were 2nd in
1m59.66s and Batchworth were 3rd in 2m0.68s.
So Anaconda came away with 1st in the 200m and a
4th in the 500m and Challengers won their first Final,
albeit a minor final but a final all the same and you have to start
somewhere. Only last year Anaconda were finishing just 2 or 3
places ahead of where Challengers finished this time around in the
500m races at Milton Keynes.
And just when you thought it was all over we had the ladies race
to support our team in. We had entered a ladies crew along with 4
other teams. This was a bit of a warm up for the nationals in a
couple of weeks time. By now the wind had strengthened and was
blowing across the course pretty hard, we were drawn in lane 5 on
the far side and were gradually getting further and further away. A
couple of times the crews lined up only for one team to not back up
when asked by the starter so we had to all back away and line up a
couple of times. Eventually they were all underway in their 200m
race. It was a tough race, everyone was totally drained after the
hard days racing for both our crews there wasn't much left in the
tank for sure. We had a number of experienced members in the crew
but also had a lot of very new members and today had seen probably
the most races in a day that we had had to take part in all season.
We would finish the race in 5th place in a very
respectable time of 58.1s, Secklow were 1st in 53.38s so
they had something to cheer about, Exe-Calibre Maidens were
2nd in 53.76s, Worcester Ladies were 3rd in
55.63s and Typhoon/Nampak were 4th in 57.91s, good job
ladies.
Bring on the Nationals . . . . See you in a
couple of weeks.
For the
complete set of results from Milton Keynes click here