The Club's Results

Expectations were not exactly high after previous dire performances. Dom was rowing for the first time in 16 months and I was racing for the first time in 12. The race was obscenely early and owing to the usual faffing we didn;t even manage more than 10 min of practice rowing before the race.

The guy doing the start took about 15 seconds to go from attention to go during which we drifted a little off the straight. To make matters worse our start was simply dreadful as the strokeside riggers became submarine.

We were about a length down after 20 seconds but the rowing began to improve and during the middle third of the race it was clear that our cruising speed was higher than theirs as we pushed back to about a third of a length deficit. I really thought we were going to win at this point but then we had another spectacular shipwreck as we tried to lift the rating at the end. Our fitness then totally ran out and they pulled clear to win fairly comfortably.

I would estimate that we covered the middle third of the course at least 5 seconds faster than the first or last thirds. (Ingram)