The Club's Results

I knew that when we arrived on time for marshalling- despite general faff, a backstops build and Fordy's belief that we could still chat despite arriving 10 minutes before we were due to push off- that things were starting to go our way.

Eva set a strong rhythm into the first leg, which I probably failed to transmit since X-Press' insistence on sitting on the start line and not moving caused my fingers to numb. Blissfully unaware of the strong stream and tailwind (soon to be headwind) it felt like we were flying down the course. We were chunky at 32, which I thought justified a 'woohoo' on the first finish line. We were buoyed up by Yining's calls, having lost our two cheerleaders to an icy towpath and skinny tyres.

De-kitting was chaotic and caused some anguish, but we started the second leg strong. By this time, Fordy and Thomas had developed a relay system to deal with the difficult conditions. Coaching points were hurled at us up until about Grassy, where Thomas then took up the charge. We were surprised by the headwind on the reach, but soldiered on and dutifully (though possibly not too effectively) wound it up at the white house. Angela's personal paparazzi also appeared at some point and gave us some gorgeous photos and a new resolve to concentrate on bladework.

A good result for early in term, and the best race I've had in a long time.

Points for next time:
1. Don't take your hands out of your sleeves until the last possible moment
2. Wind it up in the water
3. Someone should take my Canadian mountain bike instead of insisting that your hybrids are 'preferable'. (Julia A.)

I object, I was on a 25mm tyre road bike, not some hybrid. (Thomas)

But you were never going to fit on Julia's bike. I claim I'll ride Julia's bike when she convinces me the brake levers do more than warm the rims up. (Peter)