Worcester 2011 Race Report
After what seems like a huge break we're finally back to racing,
this time we're at Worcester and we'd be taking two teams again and
I'd be racing in the Anaconda crew this time.
As seems to be usual at Worcester, the weather was fine and
sunny. Boat unloading was pretty easy as we got there at around
7.40am before the rush started. The boats were unloaded and
dressed, we picked up our new boat dolly from a nice man from
Pershore and before we knew it, it was time for racing. The rivers
was low with virtually no flow on it, you just had to watch if you
were drawn in lane 1 that you didn't end up on the beach.
Challengers were up first with a tough 200m heat against Typhoon
Tigers and Worcester, Challengers started well with impeccable
timing and put a good fight but finished 3rd in a time
of 55.28s, Worcester finished 1st in 48.34s and Typhoon
Tigers were 2nd in 49.41s.
Next up were Anaconda in their 200m heat against Secklow 100 and
Typhoon Fury. We got off to a good start, not brilliant though, and
were pushed all the way by Secklow 100 but eventually prevailed and
finished 1st in a time of 49.76, Secklow 100 were
2nd in 50.72s and Typhoon Fury were 3rd in
57.09s.
Next up were Anaconda again in their 200m semi against
Worcester, again, and Typhoon Tigers. The boat was running well and
it was a blanket finish but this time we could only manage
2nd in a time of 49.3s, behind Worcester who finished
1st in 48.56s and Typhoon Tigers who were 3rd
in 49.63. That's 1.07s covering 1st to 3rd,
now that's not much of a margin.
One thing that was noted from the bank and also felt in the boat
was that Anaconda just wasn't 'clicking', it's very hard to put
your finger on exactly what's wrong but most people felt that it
just didn't feel right. Let's see if we can sort this out next
time. With all the semi results finally in Anacondas last 200m
would be the Minor Final where we would be fighting for
4th - 6th place.
Challengers final 200m would be in Tail Race 2 against
Exe-Calibre Blades and Amathus Bees. This turned out to be a very
tight race with Amathus Bees finishing 1st in a time of
55.54s, Exe-Calibre Blades were 2nd in 55.82s and
Challengers finished 3rd in 56.08s. Wow, what a tight
race, just a tad over half a second between 1st and
3rd, that must be about a dragons nostril !!
Anaconda's 200m Minor Final would be against Exe-Calibre and
Raging Dragons, could we maintain our season long friendly rivalry
with Raging Dragons, so far we've beaten then every time we have
met. Again it was a tight race with Exe-Calibre eventually running
out in 1st place in 49.9s, Anaconda were 2nd
in 51.02s and Raging Dragons were 3rd in 51.36s, yes,
the record is still intact. Now onto the 500m.
In the 500m races, Anaconda were up first in heat 3 against
Kingston Pretenders and Cool Runnings. It was good to see Cool
Runnings back and racing again. We got off to a cracking start and
pushed all the way down the course, Pretenders hung right on our
left hand side doing a great job of wash hanging. In all my time
racing I had never really seen myself what wash hanging was all
about, I'd heard plenty of people talk about it, Pretenders did a
great illustration of this frowned upon technique. We finished
1st in a time of 1m48.94s, Pretenders were
2nd in 1m49.16s and Cool Runnings were 3rd in
1m56.68s. We even managed to get a verbal warning for finishing out
of our lane even though there are no lane markers on the river at
Worcester, not entirely sure how that works.
Challengers were up next in the next heat with a tough draw
against Crusaders and Exe-Calibre. Challengers had a good race but
with Exe-Calibre and Crusaders showing their class and great form
they could only finish 3rd in 2m4.45s, Exe-Calibre were
1st in 1m48.86s and Crusaders were 2nd in
1m49.37s. Challengers now had a rep against Worcester Dragonflies
and Henley. Dragonflies finished 1st in 1m55.22s, Henley
were 2nd in 1m55.63s and Challengers were 3rd
in 2m2.27s, that was over 2 seconds faster than their previous
race, go Challengers.
Anaconda's next race was a Cup semi against Amathus and Tao, now
this was always going to be a tough ask but what happened was not
what we expected. Amathus flew out of the blocks and pushed out a
huge bow wave in the process, Tao immediately pulled in towards
Amathus right at the start and allowed the huge wake generated by
Amathus at speed to push them down the river. Amathus finished
1st in 1m43.06s, Tao were 2nd in 1m43.38s and
we were 3rd in 1m46.74s. Even though we were
3rd we were still 2.2s faster that our previous
race.
Challengers final 500m race would be in the Plate Tail 1 race
against Typhoon Fury and Worcester Snapdragons. Challengers
finished on a real high by running away from the other two boats
and finishing a good couple of boat lengths ahead in a time of
1m57.51s, Typhoon Fury were 2nd in 2m4.14s and Worcester
Snapdragons were 3rd in 2m7.73s. Challengers were 5
seconds faster that their previous race, now where were they hiding
that performance ?
Anaconda's final race would be in the Cup Minor Final against
Tao and Exe-Calibre. We know what Exe-Calibre can do but what can
Tao do if they aren't being dragged down the river by someone elses
wash ? It was a cracking race to be in, it was nip and tuck all the
way down the course and when we all crossed the line no one really
knew who had won. It seemed to take an age for the results to
be announced, we had finished 3rd in 1m50.91,
Exe-Calibre were 1st in 1m50.41 and Tao were
2nd in 1m50.7. Not as fast as previous races but again
it was a blanket finished with only half a second between
1st and 3rd places.
Challengers had made really good progress at this event
considering there were so many new team members and it was only the
2nd time we had run two teams this season and Anaconda had
consolidated their already strong showing in the league this
season
Next stop Milton Keynes in a fortnight for the final race of the
season.
For the full
set of results from Worcester click here