Winners at Reading

Well it's a great end to our last week of training before the big regatta. We have been busy with looking at all the other crews now filling out the big boat tent at Henley. What I love about Henley is complete Clubbies mingling with some international crews. And to day the New Zealand Under 23 team turned up so at least we won't be the only Kiwi contingent here, plus Duncan Grant has been seen pacing us on the course.

At least this wasn't us

We have had a few quiet days off water because Joe has been studying hard for his final exam but once that was over Joe was ready to let his hair down. So that evening there was a BBQ down at the Leander RC which in true Kiwi style we thought would be free, but when we turned up we soon realised that was not the case, and had to go hungry...

This morning we had some time to kill before racing so we took a quick trip to Oxford with Joe repeatedly saying "Let's go to Hogwarts". Fortunately we couldn't get in, otherwise we would not have heard the end of it. We had a wander around some of the old town and had a gander in the museum where we got to try on some period hats. We then headed over to the University Church and we were all set to walk up the tower, when we were set upon by a 3 quid charge and being as tight as we are, we couldn't go up.

Then this afternoon we decided to row upstream to the Reading Town Regatta. To get there we had to row back through the two locks and through another to get to the boat park. It was a journey of just under two hours with a big chunk of it sitting in the locks. Fortunately the river wasn't running as fast as it was when we had drifted into Henley so our progress wasn't slow. There is some great scenery around.

Joe,  coming up to the last lock

As we arrived at the regatta location, we only had to wait for about two hours before our race and so we were holed up in the communal marquee. Soon we were in the starting blocks and the Umpires telling us and the one other crew to line up ourselves. We were racing into the current and it was pushing us back and the other crew ended up starting about half a length in front. However this wasn't enough of an advantage and we passed them quickly and left them behind. We crossed the line, stoked to have won a tankard.

Racing number

In true Kiwi style, we had no idea of how we were going to go back. Fortunately we were saved by the Shiplake crew (who also won their Eights race) and we were able to put our boat on their trailer. Our next problem was how were going to get back to our car in Henley... Seeing as we were among the last to race just about everyone had packed up. We were looking rather lost and under dressed in a strange town and we were lucky a friendly guy from Rowing Solutions gave us a lift to the train station. We managed to get to Henley and home from there.

Short course champs

So it has been an exciting few days and there was the qualification racing on Friday and so the weaker crews were eliminated and now the draw it out. You can see it here. We have a crew from the University of London up first. Our friends from across the ditch, Melbourne University, are on the other side of the draw so hopefully we get to meet them in the final! And lastly there are some more pictures on the UK Pictures tab up top.

For the ladies