The Nationals
I write this under duress. In all the giddiness surrounding the nationals and the end of the season I didn’t write the report straight away, and now the secretary (who didn’t even bother showing up in Nottingham (by the way that’s a joke)) has seen fit to drag me off my sick bed and give me a jolly good talking to (one stage of punishment beneath the strongly worded letter).
So here I sit, Lemsip in hand, with an almost overwhelming sense of curmudgeonly ill will to dredge through my memory of 10 odd days back.
For the first time in a long time, Phoenix only took part in one of the four events available. For the uninitiated these are on day 1 The Open 200 metres and the Open 1,000 metres (a race for the weak). These are followed on day 2 by the Mixed and then the Open 500 metre races. Pershore were entered in the open 500 only, though some members chose to participate in the mixed 500 with the Thames team in the morning.
With the unusual experience of having a 13:30 start, members of the team were able to saunter up at a reasonable hour and arrive ready to race. The first shock of the afternoon was the water condition as the often tumultuous surface of the Holme Pierpoint rowing lake resembled a Mill Pond of Constable-like calm and serenity, all despite a headwind gusting into the teams faces as they raced along the 6 lane course.
The 6 lane format basically guaranteed that each race would provide a mixture of Standard crews and Premiership talent. In the first 2 races, Pershore came streaking out of the blocks, recording times of 2.25 and 2.24 respectively and putting themselves in the mid-field for both races, but more importantly into the Cup semi-finals. The significance of this for the club cannot really be understated, as season long rivals Henley, Kingston and Crusaders were all consigned to the plate competition, having posted (and would continue to post) times several seconds adrift of Pershore.
The cup semi final involved a spot of gamesmanship on behalf of the team, as thinking practically, it was decided access to the cup major final was relatively unlikely, and as such keeping our powder dry (whilst seeing off Exe calibre Blades and Typhoon), would be the best route, as indeed it proved to be.
The cup minor final was to prove a fitting end to the season. Pershore were joined on the line by strong finishing Blades and Amathus Bees from the standard division, as all three would go head to head to decide the top standard team. In end it was a close race, with Amathus Bees finishing in third, half a boat length ahead of Pershore with Typhoon and Blades finishing in fifth and sixth.
This meant a creditable 10th overall for Pershore Phoenix on the day.
That’s Top 10...in the country.
Sweet.
