So it finally arrives!  After months of cold winter training evenings, the weather started to clear and the National League opens with its first event in sunny (well some of the time) Cardiff.  ExeCalibre turned out bright and early with a contingent of 15, and with the aid of Zach
Silverman our race numbers reached 16. After the usual hubbub of activity preparing for the day, we were up for our first 200m heat, lane 1 against Thames and Worcester, 2 crews who were expected to be a lot faster than us. However, a decent first race for ExeCalibre, with a time of 1.01.97, meant that we finished only a second behind Worcester: a good start. In the reps we were again drawn against Worcester, as well as Secklow and Thames Raging Dragons. A close race ensued, but unfortunately we finished 4th, again by about a second. On a positive note, we managed to get our time down to 59.28.

In the 500m we were drawn against Kingston and Cardiff, and as could have been predicted finished 3rd with a time of 2.19.54, which was to be our fastest of the day. In our Repechage we took on BA, Henley Eyot and Secklow. We had a bit of a nightmare race, and slowed down to 2.28.28, although in fairness most of the other crews slowed down too. So this put us into the Plate, where we had a Semi-final against Thames Raging Dragons, Henley Eyot and Amathus Wasps. Henley Eyot won the semi, but there was a strong battle for 2nd place between ourselves and Thames Raging Dragons. After an exciting race and finish, both crews were separate by less than half a second. However, unfortunately it was Thames Raging Dragons who came out on top with 2.24.22 to our 2.24.63. So we were then in the Minor final of the plate. Again it was us and Thames Raging Dragons battling it out, this time for 1st place, but again they managed to narrowly come out on top with a time of 2.22.24 to our 2.23.01. But despite this setback, we still beat the other 2 crews so it was all good in the end! An average start to the season that may not have matched the last few races of the previous season, but its only early and there are
still many events to go…