SHOCK! HORROR!
It was warm and dry at the Masters National Championship in Nottingham all day. It was a pleasure to sit on the banks and actually watch some racing instead of hiding away from the usual rain and cold in cars and the main clubhouse waiting for your event to come along.
We only put in 5 crews this year, with the 'Weight Training' squad and the 'BBQs/Sunday' squad sitting this one out.
With Ridgway out doing a triathlon, we moved up into Vet E for the eight, bringing in Keith Jones and all of his 71 years. This year there was a huge tail off from Vet D to E. 12 boats in the Vet D Open event v just 3 in the Vet E combined IM3/Open event. Unfortunately, the dominant Quintin boat were one of the 3, so we focused our energies on beating the Broxbourne 8. It was a good race - an excellent one really. We started slowly, and had to row through Broxbourne to come second to Quintin by only a length in 3.23.
The Open Vet D quad were in a tougher competition with the first 3 (Ardingly, Tees and Broxbourne - three really excellent crews) repeating their battle from last year . It was a predictable race of two halves with those three at the front, and our quad facing off against against Durham and Bradford. Durham didn't really show, but we were neck and neck with Bradford all the way until they tailed off at the end. We hit our target time of 3.25, and came off with mixed feelings of not getting a medal, but knowing there is plenty of improvement to come.
The mixed MIRC/Medway Vet B quad (including James and Lewin) had a disappointing race by their standards. It looked pedestrian from the bank, and James described it as splashy. They came 4th in 3.19.
James and Lewin then went in the Vet B 2x, and immediately redressed the balance by coming second to Peterborough in a 6 horse race in a very impressive and fast 3.21. SILVER - HURRAH.
Finally, Mr Jones bravely hauled his single down the course in a joint Vet H, I and J race (are there such letters?), which means a race for really old lunatics. Coming 3rd of 4 in 5.07. Bravo.
A big thanks to Liz Ridgway for coming up and coxing (in her state), forcing us to follow her day long eating cravings for junk food, and making us smile.
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