Race Report - Cardiff, 18th May 2008

The Runners and Riders

Premier Teams	Standard Teams	Ladies Teams
Bristol Empire Dragons Kingston Royals Thames Taniwhas BA Hurricanes Amathus DBC Henley Dragons Amathus Bees Thames Raging Dragons Typhoon Tigers	Exe-Calibre Worcester Dragons Wraysbury Dragons Colenorton Secklow 100 Amathus Wasps Notts Anaconda Cool Runnings Pershore Pheonix Worcester Dragonflies	Severn Spiritz Kingston Ladies Barbarians Secklow/Worcester Sirens

The Report

Back to Ben C’, Ben E’s and Chris W’s homeland and they were determined to put on a good show in front of any Cardiff Powerblades that were still around!

The weather was looking unpredictable and although dry, was cold and windy and standing out of the wind became a first priority.  A good turn out ensured that we had a competitive team
The team as whole were wondering if our good showing in the 200m would continue.  This used to be our worst event and the first race of the day was always a debacle. 

We watched the earlier races and they seemed very fast all around the 50:00 second mark and then Typhoon in the race before ours was 49:17.  We had to win or be in the three fastest runners up to miss the reps.

Our first 200m race was an interesting one Secklow, Notts and Raging Dragons who we had a very close race with at Exeter.  We set off well, slightly ahead of Raging and for the full 200m it was nip and tuck with no clear winner, we would have to wait on the published results.  It was a fast race with Raging taking the race 00:00:50 of a second!!  Raging 49:28, Bristol 49:78, Notts 52:75 and Secklow 55:80.  Despite second place we were in through the fastest loser’s route we now had to wait and see what came out of the reps.

We were placed in the first of the semis against Henley, Typhoon and Cool Runnings (there is a pattern emerging here?).  As I have said previously there are no easy races anymore anyone can pull off a win.  Again our start held up well matching the Tigers stroke for stroke it was a very close race and this time we get the win by 00:00:38 of a second!!  As always Typhoon acknowledged a good race and we left the water extremely happy. That win put us in our first 200m major final…fantastic.

We watched BA do their level best to win their heat but Raging had other ideas and took the win.  Who else would we get.  It didn’t take long to find out, Amathus and Kingston Royals throw down the gauntlet as they recorded the fastest times of the day 47:42 and 48:20 respectively.

We lined up at the start between Amathus and Kingston with Raging outside of Amathus.  We had our best start to date and took the lead Amathus and Kingston soon caught us  and Raging were there as well with 50 metres to go it was anyone’s race and the supporters were excited as well.  By the time we crossed the line Amathus and Kingston had managed to take two seconds and one second respectively from us, they certainly are strong teams.  The result was Amathus 46:44. Kingston 47:34, Bristol 48:53 and Raging 49:56.  So third is fantastic.

We now have about an hours break and following on from last years formulae for success Ben and Gill have supplied vegetable samosas and other seasoned carbohydrates.  These are soon devoured and we are powered up for the 500m races.

Again the line up is a formidable one, Kingston Pretenders (who are they kidding – pretending!!  They are as serious as the rest of us!), Raging Dragons (again) and Pershore Phoenix.  To make progress we really need to win this one.  We nail a brilliant start and then settle we keep ahead of Raging all the way down and despite hearing calls for power in the Raging boat we keep our strength and finish in first – a great race and that was borne out by the result Bristol 2:06:00, Raging 2:07:06, Pretenders 2:14:63 and Pershore 2:23:84.  We wait for the results of the last race and that confirms we had the fastest 500m race in the first of the heats.  We know anything can happen but that time was good and the race felt good we just need to repeat that.

After the Reps we find that we are up against Raging (again) and our friends BA.  The start is good and we go into the lead all is good and we hold our own.  According to those on shore we are well in control however in the boat it is clear something isn’t right, it isn’t smooth and there is no calming voice of the helm, eventually a shout for power is heard but it isn’t clear and the finish isn’t our best enabling BA and Raging to slide past us.  I’m sure BA have some form of power over us!!  The power lead had mysteriously come out of the cox box methinks mystic powers are at work!!

Despite the disappointment we reach the cup minor final.  A couple of years ago that would be beyond our wildest expectations but now we want more and expect more, funny how things change!  We line up with some familiar teams Typhoon Tigers, Henley and Taniwhas.  We want to do well in this race just to prove to ourselves that we can do it.  It’s an extremely close start and for once there is no daylight between any of us, there is a head wind and that makes life interesting at stroke – I’m sure it would be an advantage to be half fish and be able to breathe air and water!

Anyway it’s a close race all the way down and we can hear our helm who keeps us steady and we match every attempt by Typhoon to pass us – it’s a tight race but we hold on and take the win.  It’s a slow (5 seconds slower than our heat race) time but we were head on into the wind so not bad.  Bristol 2:11:06, Typhoon 2:11:79, Taniwhas 2:12:97 and Henley 2:13:31.

Just as a note of interest our best time for 200m last year was 55:04 this year it’s 48:53 and in the 500m last year it was 2:16:51 and now 2:06:00 in 2008. A fantastic improvement.

We joined BA in the pub after the presentations and have a drink and good laugh with them. Our next race is on home turf (water).  HooHahhh!!

The Bristol Empire Dragons' Boat

Drummer	Emily
Crew	Left Side	Right Side
	Del (Coach)	Shaw (Club Captain)
	Candy	Ian
	Pam	Gary (Vice Captain)
	Chris W	Simon
	Chris R	Dave
	Heather	Bob
	Ginette	Janet
	Ben C	Rob
	Adam	Stuart
		Mike
Helm	Matt Hodgson
Team Manager	Shaw Beattie

Results of the 200 meters

Premier	Crew	Points	Position Overall on the Day
1st	Amathus BDC	16	1st
2nd	Kingston Royals	15	2nd
3rd	Bristol Empire Dragons	14	3rd
4th	Thames Raging Dragons	13	4th
5th	Typhoon Tigers	12	5th
6th	BA Hurricanes	11	6th
7th	Henley	10	7th
8th	Thames Taniwhas	9	10th
9th	Amathus Bees	8	15th

Standard	Crew	Points	Position Overall on the Day
1st	Cool Runnings	16	8th
2nd	Worcester Dragons	15	9th
3rd	Colenorton	14	11th
4th	Exe-Calibre	13	12th
5th	Notts Anaconda	12	13th
6th	Kingston Pretenders	11	14th
7th	Secklow 100	10	16th
8th	Pershore Pheonix	9	17th
9th	Worcester Dragonflies	8	18th

Results of the 500 meters

Premier	Crew	Points	Position Overall on the Day
1st	Amathus BDC	16	1st
2nd	Kingston Royals	15	2nd
3rd	Thames Raging Dragons	14	3rd
4th	BA Hurricanes	13	4th
5th	Bristol Empire Dragons	12	5th
6th	Typhoon Tigers	11	6th
7th	Thames Taniwhas	10	7th
8th	Henley	9	8th
9th	Amathus Bees	8	11th

Standard	Crew	Points	Position Overall on the Day
1st	Cool Runnings	16	9th
2nd	Colenorton	15	10th
3rd	Worcester Dragons	14	12th
4th	Exe-Calibre	13	13th
5th	Notts Anaconda	12	14th
6th	Kingston Pretenders	11	15th
7th	Secklow 100	10	16th
8th	Pershore Pheonix	9	18th
9th	Worcester Dragonflies	8	18th

Ladies	Crew
1st	Barbarians
2nd	Kingston Ladies
3rd	Sirens
4th	Secklow/Worcester
5th	Severn Spiritz

Cardiff, 18th May 2008, Photo Gallery