BDA Nottingham 2011
Human pyramids, love birds, barn owls...oh and dragon boating!
(By Kevin aka Asbo)
This season is proving to be as unpredictable as everyone had thought it would be... and i'm not even talking about the Dragonboating! With Daniel 'Guns' Oliver falling into the River Cambridge TWICE while punting (Guns is not allowed to helm the boat...ever) and with new relationships (ahem) blossoming all over the place we had no idea what to expect when the team turned up onto the River Trent on Sunday morning.
With more injuries to the team then a Friday night at the local A&E, a new start sequence, our inability to count beyond 10 and the lack of a left stroke when we went into our first 200m race against the local team Notts Anaconda we were still crazily psyched up for the race - and how our optimism served as well... for about 195 metres... whether it was the poor finish markings or the lack of race experience in the team - we seemed to slow down at the wrong time and were cruelly pipped on the line by Notts - by 0.3 seconds - (53.81 vs 53.53). With only the winners of the heat and the 2 fastest runners up threw to the Cup Semi's it was an anxious wait for the times by the crews in the remaining 5 heats - but we snuck our way into the Cup Semi's in that final runners up spot!
Such is the case with River races, lane draws can make and break a race - and for the semi-finals we were placed in that unlucky 3rd lane - the lane that takes on all that crazy head wind and the currents. But we still went into that semi final against Notts and Execalibre with confidence and a proper left stroke...! However Notts and Execalibre once again proved why they have so far been able to challenge at the first top end of the leader board - Notts winning, comfortably in 51.10s, Exe coming in with 53.33s and Rage apparently coming in 4 seconds behind Notts in a time of 55.12s.
So no Minor Final for Rage in the 200m for the first time this season - through to the 7th - 9th placing, and yet again we were placed in that tricky 3rd lane against Worcester and Hurricanes - in what was probably our best 200m race, we still came in at 3rd place with a time of 56.27s.
However these times and placings don't show tell the whole story of this team. So long Rage has relied on a devastating 5x20 start, a start that last season put most teams in our wash. However throughout training this season it's been clear that with the new look of the team, we have been unable to produce the same devastating starts as previous years. So a brave decision was made to introduce a new start to the team - the Szeto start, and with that we've also brought in is a finishing sequence to power on through the line. To introduce both these into our race plan with only 3 training sessions under our belt (for most people...) was a risk - however with our goal this season of peaking at the Nationals in September it was a risk that was worth taking. How did this translate on the boat? Just awesomely - let's keep up the hard work and let's keep pushing ourselves - that is the only way we're going to be able to reach our full potential to take out the likes of Amatheus and co. (As a side note, Notts Anaconda won the 200m Cup beating Amatheus and Batchworth in the final, this just goes to show that with hard work we CAN achieve our potential and once again start challenging teams at the top of the leaderboard!)
So what of the 450m races? Well with little training in this - we came in with absolutely no expectations - and with the heats against Execalibre we were comfortably beaten despite getting a decent time of 2:01:53. With the same qualification process as the 200m, and posting the 3rd fastest runner up time - we were into the plate competition! Despite this - we were determined we should come away with some silverware! So in the Plate reps up against Execalibre Blades and Worcester Dragonflies - we were determined to lay down a marker to the teams in the plate competition - and we did comfortably disposing of these teams by 10 seconds and 17 seconds respectively (2:02:28). However with Crusaders and Secklow and Pershore putting equally strong times, it wouldn't be easy in the Plate!
What we had shown in the 450m races so far however was that we were strong, our strong starts were getting us ahead in the first 30 metres, and our middle section, where we needed to go long and strong (those Bart training sessions were definitely coming into good use...) were controlled and powerful and we had just about enough gas in the final 50m to power on home! Could this actually translate into some silverware?
In the Plate Semifinals up against Pershore and Crusaders we knew that we would be pushed hard. Pershore in that fast lane 1 might have had the advantage, and Crusaders with a strong team who beat us in the 500m in the beginning of the season at Stockton. We had to give our all in this race and show in order to progress through to the final - and what a race it was! With a powerful start - we pulled away quickly - however Pershore came up close in lane 1, gaining on every stroke, however coach eddy comfortable in our abilities kept us cool, and when we needed he called for our power build at the finish line, and just like that we pulled away - our Power Strokes were long, deep and powerful and we kept it like that to the finish line - and that was damned lucky because we beat Pershore by 0.39 seconds (2:02:53) to go through to the Plate finals!
By now the team were pretty much shattered, what with numerous wrestling matches, pyramids, bundles and pranks together with all this racing - Rage were ready to go home! But we knew we had one final race - and we were gonna do our damndest to make sure we were going home with that plate trophy. Secklow and Pershore in the final, we were given the middle lane, with Secklow on the inside and Pershore in that unlucky lane 3. The team had promised to empty the tank in this - and boy did we have to. Once again our starts were coming together and we pulled away at the beginning, with Secklow hot on our tails. But with confidence Coach Eddy didn't need to call for a Power during our middle section - such was the control and power of our strokes. However with Secklow creeping up on us - Eddy shouted our for our Power finish and once again we felt the boat surge through to the finishing line.
Did we win? Of course we did! with our quickest time of the day! 2:00:17 and we needed to pull that out of the bag as Secklow were hot on our tails finishing with 2:01:24.
So we came home from Nottingham with a 9th and 10th place finish overall - on paper - not the best we've ever performed - but as this race report shows there was more behind these positions. But what this also shows is that we as a team CANNOT rest on our laurels - yes we should be proud of our achievements and progress so far however there is still a long way to go - but what we can say is that we are definitely on an upwards trend.
Onwards and Upwards Rage! Bring on Exeter.
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