Race Report - Liverpool League Event, 6th May 2007

The Runners and Riders

Premier Teams	Standard Teams
Bristol Empire Dragons Kingstone Royals Thames Taniwhas Batchworth BA Hurricanes WAM Amathus DBC Henley Dragons 3 River Serpents Amathus Bees	Typhoon Tigers Notts Anaconda Worcester Dragons Seven Warriors Amathus Wasps

Junior Teams	Scratch Teams
Amathus Dragon Jockey Orientals	Dutch Dragons United Dragons

The Report

Announcing the second national league race event of the season and our venue this week is the City of  Liverpool and our hosts Amathus Dragon Boat Club. There were the usual suspects with the addition of two very good teams from Holland [Dutch Dragons & United Dragons] as part of the European League event and a junior team from a local scout group [Orientals]. 

Once again we traveled up to the race event on the Saturday to acclimatise to the northern area of England, Bharti had somehow persuaded Stuart her chauffer for the weekend to drive up early to enable a good afternoons shoe/clothes type of shopping within nearby Chester as many of us were bedding down for the night in the outer suburbs of this city. Midday two groups decided to divide into those that wanted to take in the country scenery and those who that purely wanted to shop, it was agreed later on to met up in a local hostelry to eat, drink and be merry. On the guidance of our coach Del ‘what a guy” Kyme “who needs sports energy drinks for preparation when good old fashioned apples are more than adequate” was his quote for the evening, we believe those words or something similar was said but his slurring accompanied by a wobble or two meant none of us were any the wiser. Team bonding (drinking) is better than a good nights sleep was mentioned many times by various drinking buddies of Del but with the absence of Bill, who would have dared speak those words in his presence!! And it was indeed a text messaged received from Bill at 9pm that advised the crew it may be in our best interests to stop the ‘team bonding’ if we knew what was good for us. Bill has many ways of getting back at us - bare feet on hot coals back at training head quarters, cold showers after the hot coals [not that we have any hot water in our clubhouse similar to the ladies toilets at race venue] to mention but a few, off to bed we did scarper. 

Sunday morning and the weather did not look promising, light drizzle with a light to moderate wind, we drove in convoy to the race site of the Albert Dock in Liverpool but for some obscure reason Matt decided to turn left instead of right and eventually met up with us at the Mersey Tunnel later on he was muttering something about SAT NAV 

One concern was whether Gary Corr was going to be able to race, he had been up all night being ill, had someone from the other crews poisoned our recent and latest new Great Britain team member going to Australia for the world championships or was it the spare ribs from the night before? Anyway a mere bit of food poisoning does not deter this guy, you would have to chop both his arms and legs off before he would give up and I’m sure he would find another way to paddle. 

It was Bristol Empire Dragons first outing in they’re new and very bright lycra racing kit proudly carrying our sponsors name Twenty 20 Consulting aka Chris Rushworth. Our finely tuned athletes covered themselves up just like a prized boxer before the fight until the command to enter the ring [dragon boat], down we marched all proud, chests out to the cheers of the crowd at least to Nic and a few stragglers sat in the stand. 

We were informed that our first race of the day would be in the second heat of the 200 metres along with Typhoon Tiger and Amathus Dragon Jockeys. With the exploits of Typhoon Tigers in the previous meeting at Stockton-On-Tees we knew we were in for a challenging race. 

The conditions had become fairly difficult for the crews and in particular the helms as the wind had picked up forcing the start to be aborted at least four times, with the paddlers and the helm having to work the conditions it left our drummer Emily shivering at the front of the boat in just her racing shorts and top but she bared the conditions throughout the day without complaint in true Bristol fashion of just get on with it.

At the fifth time of asking the starter managed to get the race underway with Bristol Empire Dragons and Typhoon Tigers neck and neck all the way down the course, “come on Bristol 100%, I want it all, give it to me now, now” demanded Bill. At the line Typhoon Tigers took first place in a time of 49.50secs followed by Bristol Empire Dragons in 51.03secs with Amathus Dragon Jockeys third in 101.11secs. They ‘now’ had just escaped but we were still in contention to fight another day. 

In the fourth heat the scout group would line up for their debut and they looked determined and confident led by their leaders. Unfortunately the conditions were very tough with a extremely fierce wind which made progressing to the start line very difficult, many of the seasoned crews were also struggling and the marshals decided to tow Orientals back to land via the safety boats, at least they had the courage to give it a go and hopefully next year the conditions may be more favorable to them. 

To progress in the cup competition we had to finish in the top twelve after the first two rounds and by the close of play the first round of heats we were laying in exactly twelfth position but the crews that had gone in the first round were almost five seconds faster than the remainder of the heats including Batchworth, Dutch dragons and Amathus DBC, amazing!

The second round of heats pitted Bristol Empire Dragons [lane 4] against 3 River Serpents [lane 3], Henley [lane 2] and United Dragons [lane 1] the starter managed to get all the crews away first time and with a bad start we were almost three quarters of a boat length down against 3 River Serpents and laying in last position, after 100 metres we made our move, after each stroke our boat moved up one seating place alongside the crew in lane 3, closer and closer the finishing line came and closer and closer  the gap disintegrated until it was either us or the 3 River Serpents who would take the honors, it was to close to call from within the boat but another two metres and we would have passed them unfortunate the finishing line came two meters too early and we had again settle for second with 3 River Serpents crossing the line in 50.36secs, Bristol Empire Dragons in 50.54secs, Henley in 51.63secs and United Dragons in 52.48secs.

This was good enough to propel Bristol Empire Dragons into seventh position after the 200metres heats and enable us to enter the full cup competition in the 500mteres racing that mattered. 

The rain had started to fall, keeping warm and dry had become difficult but we kept ourselves amused but copying the huddle of Penguins in mid winter on the continent of the Antarctic. Many times this could be seen and those from outside may of thought the team bonding may have taken a step forward! 

Our first heat for the 500metres pitched Bristol Empire Dragons up against Raging Dragons and Batchworth to progress we had to get a good time. At the off Batchworth flew away but we managed to keep them in our sights through the encouragement of Bill our Helm, kicking us when we need to be and shouting the remainder of the race. The result at the end saw Batchworth in at 2.02.51secs, Bristol Empire Dragons at 2.07.85secs and Raging Dragons in at 2.10.41secs. 

Our time was not good enough to go straight to the semi-finals instead we had to go through the reps to gain two of the final slots, the six crews vying for these places were to be Bristol Empire Dragons, Henley, Kinsgton Royals, 3 River Serpents, BA Hurricans and Typhoon Tigers. 

The first race off between 3 River Serpents, BA Hurricans & Typhoon Tigers saw the crew from Durham the 3 River Serpents take the first position and place them into the first semi-final along side Thames Taniwhas and Amathus DBC. 

The second race off were the crews from Kingston Royals, Henley and Bristol Empire Dragons. We had never beaten Kingston Royals before and only had the better of Henley twice over the years of racing; this was the enormity of the challenge that presented itself. A good warm up and an amazing team talk by Del and Bill once again and our new bright racing kit adding to the occasion. The long paddle up to the start line had us all focused on what we wanted and needed to achieve. We new a good start was necessary, with the nerves kicking in just at the right time we were ready, “lane 1 up two metres, lane 3 hold your boat, lane 2 up one metre” shouted the starter, “all boats hold, crews are you ready”   a hold of five or six seconds seemed an eternity, the heart responded by fluctuations the head by concentration and then the starter called “attention, GO” with a gap of only 1second, all three crews respond with full power, enough for your carbon fibre paddles to creak with the pressure being put on them. We get a good start and after 100 metres there is nothing between Henley, Kingston and ourselves, at 200m Bill calls for more and the crew respond which propels our boat mightily forward and into first position, we are going away from the other two crews but they too respond and with 50metres to go there is nothing in it, who wants it more, who wants that last spot in the semi-finals, who can squeeze out that last drop of power from their exhausted body, which coach/helm can get that last effort out of their crews, on the line no ones knows who has won, who has gone into the semi-finals, who went that last little bit more. It is not until all the crews are out of their boats until they find out who took that final spot, the tension, the excitement, the anticipation it’s all there, who succeeded to book that final position, Bristol Empire Dragons is announced first over the tannoy, we had done it, the last spot was ours (Bristol Empire Dragons 2.12.48secs, Kingston Royals 2.12.76secs and Henley 2.13.04secs) 

The line up for the first semi-finals was Bristol Empire Dragons, Batchworth & Dutch Dragons and the second semi-final would be Amathus DBC, Thames Taniwhas and 3 River Serpents. 

Our semi-final was fairly non eventful for us which resulted in third position against two very strong crews putting Bristol Empire Dragons into the Minor Cup Final but with Dutch Dragons taking the first position in a time of 2.01.37 secs and Batchworth in 2.01.65 secs it meant that Bristol (2.15.84 secs) would be at least into the Minor Cup Final. 

The second semi-final had Thames Taniwhas neck and neck against Amathus DBC all the way to the line but with Amathus just taking the spoils and making the Major Cup Final along with Thames Taniwhas whose time was greater than Batchworth.

This meant a line up for the Minor Cup Final consisted of Bristol Empire Dragons, 3 River Serpents and Batchworth. 

There had been confusion with Batchworth being placed in the Minor Cup Final but 3 Rivers Serpents and Bristol Empire Dragons had already taken to their boats and paddled towards the start line, underneath one of the bridges the two sheltered from the rain and wind, it was one of the warmest places we had encountered the whole of the afternoon even to the point that an invitation to participate in the Arial Head of The River Race was passed to 3 Rivers with the promise of ‘proper gert lush cider’ on the menu, ‘we luvs our cider you know in the west country’. Anyway back to the racing, Batchworth finally joined the two other crews and from the off Batchworth were away with Bristol and 3 Rivers battling for the 4 & 5 premier league position, there was not a lot between the two crews all the way up the course and at the line the 3 Rivers Serpents took the overall 4th position, Bristol Empire Dragons 5th overall and Batchworth 3rd overall on the day for the Premier league. 

The Major Cup final was to be between Amathus DBC, Dutch Dragons and Thames Taniwhas. It was hard to see who was doing what from the start but as all three crews neared the finishing line barely a yard separated all three, at the line Amathus DBC just squeezed out Dutch Dragons with Thames Taniwhas in third. 

There was a new member Ben Callaghan making his racing debut for Bristol Empire Dragons who had joined from Cardiff Power Blades earlier in the season and went out of his way to be with us today, driving up independently on the Sunday morning which was appreciated by his fellow crew members. 

Adam will no doubt be in the dog house for his photographic abilities but I’m sure the promise of a good back rub after the forthcoming Bristol event might get him off the hook!

The Bristol Empire Dragons' Boat

Drummer	Emily Britton
Crew	Left Side	Right Side
	Candy Elliot	Ian Elliott
	Bharti Tailor	Gary Corr (Vice Captain)
	Shaw Beattie (Club Captain)	Del Kyme (Coach)
	Stuart Patten-Lawrence	Bob Meridith
	Ginnett Corr	Rob Britton
	Pam Beattie	Janet Cross
	Tim Donovan	Silvia Spence
	Ben Callaghan	Matt Hodgson
	Heather Driscoll	Adam Mills
Helm	Bill Beattie (Assistant Coach)
Team Manager	Nic Milton

Liverpool, 6th May 2007, Photo Gallery