Preston - a really positive experience!

Preston - a really positive experience!

A crew comprising of regular Dragons and Dragonfly paddlers arrived to take on the 12 other teams.
Within those, Kingston (who came in strength with Royals and Pretenders), Amathus (and Amathus Bees), Raging Dragons, Hurricanes were all names to be wary of.

Since Nottingham, the focus of training has been on the new technique elements introduced by Nigel - the snap recovery, bringing us extra strokes when we need them, and maintaining a forward body position during the start.

After settling down over the first two heats (the second of which was a win, but with a slower time), Worcester combined the strength and 'fight' of the first heat with the technique and control of the second, to battle against Kingston Royals and Crusaders, beating Crusaders on their home ground and fighting Kingston Royals right to the line. Although Kingston and Crusaders had run close to each other, coming so close to the eventual winners of the day fired everyone up.

The 200m final against Execalibre and Hurricanes finished our 200m races in fine style. A new technique was introduced - putting ten strokes of push after the 20 start (half way between the pace and power of the start and the 'reach') to give 30 solid strokes at the start of the race. This pulled us half a boat length ahead of Execalibre - who had beaten us in the first round - for first place in front of them and Hurricanes, who fought hard all the way to the line.


The challenge then was to bring everything from the 200m to the 500m races. With great positive attitude from the team and some excellent helming from Nigel (ask me if you want to know more!) a really strong start left Crusaders behind after the first 30 strokes and they never really came back into contention. The result took us straight to the cup semi finals where a close race was again had with Hurricanes. Once more out start took us out in front, and despite a really strong push from Hurricanes as we neared the finish, Worcester held on to take first place and earn a place in the major cup final! The opposition in the final - Amathus and Kingston - were very strong. Despite the odds, Worcester fought and kept in contention with both opposition for the first part of the race. Then fitness took it's toll and both pulled away. However, Worcester fought all the way to the line and didn't give an inch more than they had to.

The end result: a cup for third place in the Major cup final and third overall on the day, good points for our league position and lots of smiling crew leaving for Worcester after a great day's paddling.Rob