This line up didn't have an outing before race day. Some crews would have tried to counter this disadvantage by having at least 6k of warm up, but we chose to enjoy the sunshine and boat so late that we were very close to being disqualified. Power and length were traded for rate off the start, but by 500m we'd settled into something reasonable, got into second place by a length at halfway, and thus avoided serious exertion. (Tom C)

The Maidstone crew, in spite of geographical logic, was stacked with some decent juniors from Evesham and well ahead of the field. With a full strength first eight we might have beaten Brookes, and it wasn't a terrible row by any means. (Tom C)