After day 1 we’d been told that we couldn’t “always expect a race that lasts 80 seconds”…
Basking in the sunshine pre-race was soon replaced by sheltering in the shade to avoid heat stroke, as we waited to row up to the start. We were geared up to race for longer today, but why do so in this heat if you don’t have to?!
So when the final cannon fired we went off into our start sequence with powerful strokes and as the wind count increased the boat was racing. When the call came from Christina that someone in the St. Catharine’s boat ahead had caught a crab that was all we needed to tell ourselves that this race was ours.
Now.
There were so many whistles coming from the bank that I couldn’t make out how many whistles we were on, but then came the call that we would be jumping in 3…2…1… “It’s just you and your footplate” had been drilled to us and when we took that first jump stroke everyone in the boat must have crushed those footplates – clearly this time we really did hit warp-speed, because the very next call was to hold it up.
WE BUMPED! And no, we can’t always expect a race that lasts 80 seconds…but we’re pretty happy with 59 seconds too!
Emma Heydon