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After a brilliant performance at BDA London, I'm sure many people thought it was going to be very difficult to do any better.   But we definitely topped that at BDA Worcester yesterday!!

Typhoon Tigers and Hurri-Pyhoons!

After a brilliant performance at BDA London, I'm sure many people thought it was going to be very difficult to do any better.   But we definitely topped that at BDA Worcester yesterday!  In terms of 400-500m racing, this has to be out best performance to date!

Compared to last week in London, we had 7 lefties missing!  And after 4 dropouts in the past week, there was good reason to feel a little nervous.  We had to compensate by moving 3 righties over to the left and bring in JC to paddle every race including the 450m!

The day started with the 200m heat going head-to-head with Raging Dragons!   Normally, this would be nothing to worry about but considering our leftie problem it was going to be a challenge.  However, there was no way of knowing as we pulled away easily off the start ahead of WAM and RD.   With a good fast pace upfront we maintained a high work rate and kept our lead as we crossed the line in 1st place with a time of 50.76.  Unfortunately, this was only the 10th fastest on time and our 200m campaign ended there as the top 6 teams progressed to the cup finals.

We were drawn Kingston Royals for our 450m heat and there was no expectation whatsoever to keep up with them!   Kingston took a marginal lead off the start after which we expected them to leave us for dead!  But it never happened!   Again with a good slower pace, we were able to reach out with our full technique, every stroke seemed effortless but yet powerful.  The pull away we expected just did not happen and we kept with them for the whole race.   We managed 2nd place at 1:46.70 and only 0.68s behind Kingston!  The comments from Batchworth and Thames was that our boat was so front heavy that we were nose diving into the water!   Some believed that with an optimum seating plan we might have been able to beat Kingston!

We paid heed to this feedback for the repechrage we rearranged our line-up placing the biggest guys in the middle of the boat.   However, it was difficult to see whether this made a difference.  We didn't manage to pull away off our start and with Fallen Angels not far behind, the stroke rate was pushed in an attempted to fight them off.   Although the pace was only a notch faster than before, we seemed to be putting in more work and getting less power out.  However, we still managed to win but with slower time of 1: 50.82 which guaranteed us a place in the Cup!

Again we were drawn against Kingston.  We suspected they held back and cruised it at our previous encounter but this time we knew they were going to go all out as we were up against Henley.   Again, the pull away of the premier teams never materialise nor did our usual waning half way through the race.  With all 3 teams fighting for a place in the semi-finals, it was a closely fought race with all 3 boats within half a boat length for the entire race!   Although we finished 3rd, it was a with respectable time of 1:47.??  Moreover, it showed that our first encounter was a fluke!

Our final race of the day was the 450m Cup Tail Race against Secklow "Housewives" and Thames.  Secklow had already knock RD out off the cup and we were determined not to be another victim of the bored housewives!  Our attention was on Secklow as we did think we wouldn't stand a chase against Thames.  We almost proofed ourselves wrong!

The sheer power in our racing start pulled our boat along side Thames.  A fast pace was set but everyone was prepared to keep up and go all out for the last race of the day.  Thames just could not shake us off.   In what seemed to be a conscious effort, Thames steered their boat away from ours to probably prevent us from surfing their wash.  But instead of them pulling away, we began to surge forward and gain on Thames!  At one point, it did seem like we would catch Thames but then power began to drop.   We crossed the finishing line in 2nd place with 1:46.?? but less than half a boat length behind Thames.  Secklow were left for dead !

What a performance!   Considering every team's final race of the day, we were the fastest standard crew!  It wasn't so long ago that we were chasing the top teams in the standard division and now we are on the tail of the top teams in country!   400m-500m is supposed to be our weak point, but yesterday we were in hot pursuit of the elite premier teams including Thames, Kingston and Henley who are the 3rd, 4th and 5th best teams in the country!  In fact, last week at BDA London, Thames was the fastest team in the country!

This is the first time this season that we did better than RD at 400-500m racing!   They picked up a trophy as runners-up of the Major Plate.  But who wants any silverware for the plate when you are in the cup!   Although we left without any trophies, we did not leave empty handed.  We qualified for the 400-500m cup for the first time ever based our performance at the distance (unlike at Liverpool which was based on our performance at 200m).  We walked away with 14 BDA points (2 more than RD).   And we left with renewed confidence for our races ahead.

After a fantastic performance at both BDA London and Worcester, we should go to the Lionsclub event this Sat 6 Aug and accept no less than 1 st place!

 

Ping

P.S.   Just to think that we almost didn't enter for BDA Worcester as we were so low on numbers!  Could you imagine if we didn't enter and missed out on achieving what we did!   There are only 3 events left this year: Lionsclub, BDA Peterborough and Nationals.  Let not miss out on any of these as we could missing our opportunity to really shine!

P.S.   Also, I want to say a huge thanks to the following people (apologies if I have missed anyone out):

Andrew    - For really nailing a good pace for both 100m and 450m.

JC           - For surviving 4x 450m!

Ambi's     - (Sam C/Phil I/Kalai) Our ambidextrous paddlers!   You righties did a brilliant job on the left.

Helen       - For always being ready and willing to drum when we need her.

Adrian      - For organising for the exclusive hire of the Batchworth 2nd boat.  It was so nice not having to wait again for ages only to be allocated a cr@ppy pool boat!

Jo            - For delaying her trip to Paris so she can paddle with us.  Also, the day before Worcester was Jo's Birthday and all she wanted was to beat Raging Dragons!   How was that as a birthday present?!  I hope we made it your worth while.

Jose        - Who was so determined not to go but then came to the rallying call of the Tigers.

Sam C     - Who struck a deal with his boss to get the days off to so he can paddle in every race but will now be working almost every weekend most month!

Ed           - For taking Mon off work to finish all of his weekend plans so he can race with us on Sun.

Yong       - For her BDA debut and I'm sure the first of many!

Dhana      - Who made a special effort to take the day off work to race with us even though this might mean having trouble taking off Sun 6 Aug for Lionsclub.   I really appreciate it and I hope you manage to get the time off next week too.

Team Line-Up

200m Heat

D  Helen

1  Claire  Andrew

2  Phan    Jo

3  Jeremy  Ping

4  Sam C   JC

5  Mui     Dan

6  Phil W  Alan T

7  Dhana   Jose

8  Kalai   Ed

9  Phil I  Yong S

H

 

500m Heats

D  Helen

1  Claire  Andrew

2  Phan    Jo

3  Jeremy  Ping

4  Sam C   JC

5  Mui     Dan

6  Phil W  Alan T

7  Dhana   Jose

8  Phil I  Ed

9  Kalai   Yong S

H

 

500m Repecharge

500m Cup Tail

D  Helen

1  Claire  Andrew

2  Phan    Jo

3  Mui     Ping

4  Sam C   Jose

--- Gap --- Gap ---

5  Jeremy  JC

6  Phil W  Dan

7  Dhana   Alan T

8  Phil I  Ed

9  Kalai   Yong S

H

 

500m Cup

D  Helen

1  Claire  Andrew

2  Phan    Jo

3  Jeremy  Ping

4  Sam C   JC

5  Mui     Dan

6  Phil W  Alan T

7  Dhana   Jose

8  Phil I  Ed

9  Kalai   Yong S

H

 

500m Cup Tail

D  Helen

1  Claire  Andrew

2  Phan    Jo

3  Mui     Ping

4  Sam C   Jose

5  Jeremy  JC

6  Phil W  Dan

7  Dhana   Alan T

8  Phil I  Ed

9  Kalai   Yong S

H

 

 

Results

200m Heat

1. Typhoon Tigers        50.76

2. WAM                        51.26

3. Raging Dragons         52.07

 

500m Heat

1. Kingston                    1:46.02

2. Typhoon Tigers        1:46.70

3. Severn Warriors         1:55.76

 

500m Repecharges

1. Typhoon Tigers        1:50.82

2. Fallen Angels             1:53.92

3. Amathus Pool of Life  2:07.53

 

500m Cup

1. Kingston                    ?:??.??

2. Henley                      ?:??.??

3. Typhoon Tigers        1:47.??

 

500m Cup Tail

1. Thames Taniwahs      1:44.??

2. Typhoon Tigers        1:46.??

3. Secklow 100              1:51.??