Milton Keynes

Tuesday, 27 September 2011 20:38

This was the final league event in 2011 for us.

Milton Keynes (Caldicotte Lake) is probably the most difficult venue to get to, no motorway for half the journey so even though it's not far from Bristol it takes ages!!!!

THere was a large turnout of clubs and we brought some first timers with us to get a taste of racing.  Almost as soon as the first races were called the weather changed from cloudy to rain and headwinds.  Despite the conditions we felt pretty strong and in the first race we thought we had nailed first place but were told we were beaten by Raging Dragons  - this was a trend that continued all day as we always got the shoreside lane apart from one race where we were beaten soundly by Batchworth.  That finish line certainly needed looking at!  Or was the finish not in the right place!

The Cup Race saw us pitched against Kingston, Ragining and Pershore or so we thought but at the last minute Kingston were allowed a timed run just as we had lined up for the race.  This was so off putting and totally unexpected.  Apparently this tiimed run on a flat lake no winf and no wash saw them improve their time and so they were moved up to the minor final so who would come down - apparently no one so that put all of us in the cup at a disadvantage effectively losing a place. We eventually lined up to race some 15 minutes later than expected and we won it by a country mile! 

We eventually finished 10th probably the lowest position all season and certainly not the result we expected given the effort we put in!

Still the final table shows us in mid table and for the first time above Hurricanes who also had a strange racing season.  Thanks to everyone in the team that raced with us to give us a great racing season next year we want to do better I know we have the potential to be further up the league.  Lets have a big push during the winter to improve technique and fitness - thanks everyone.