So here it was: our home event. A day when we should be putting out our best crew and sweeping away all who dare to stand before our might! Well that might be a slightly over-dramatic start to an ExeCalibre Race Report, but to say that the day went well would not be a lie, and to say that it went totally to plan would be a lie!
The 200m, as always, started the proceedings. Our U18 crew, Exmouth Community College Dragons, and ourselves were in heats 1 and 6 respectively. The day started off in eventful fashion, with a dodgy helm blade attachment rope (AND NOT MY STEERING!) caused a colossal crash with the Exmouth CC Dragons into Fallen Angels in lane 2! Fortunately we got to re-race, and recorded an excellent time of 55.46. Could this time, which was entirely not down to any form of wash hanging, be beaten by the adult crew? Well the answer to that question, in typical ExeCalibre slow-starting fashion, was no! A time of 57.21 was a little disappointing for all, and only made us more determined to improve in the 400m.
ExeCalibre made a decent if not breathtaking start to the 400m races in heat 2 with a time of 2.09.16. This was against Bristol and Typhoon Tigers. This put us into the repechages, against Typhoon Tigers and Henley Eyot. The Exmouth guys and girls put in a decent first time also, 2.19.63, which for a junior crew only together a handful of training session I think was fantastic. ExeCalibre lined up in lane 3 for the third repechage, but in a disappointing show came third with a slower time of 2.10.25. It was obvious to all of us in the crew that changes needed to be made if we wanted to reach our goal of the Plate Major Final. Exmouth, starting to feel the effects of the days racing, recorded a still very respectable time of 2.27.11. So we were all in the plate semis, make or break. Do ExeCalibre pull out a good time and get to the Major Final, or do they disappoint and not achieve their objective? Read on and find out after this quick break…

- London Event – drama, excitement, packed race programs and plenty of rain. Read the London Albert Docks race report. The Times said about it ‘I don’t know what it is, but it sounds like a rip-roaring good read’. Available EXCLUSIVELY here

So it comes to the Plate Semi-Final…
Lane 1, ExeCalibre. 5th fastest Runner Up.
Lane 2, Kingston Pretenders. 5 seconds quicker on paper.
Lane 3, Amathus Wasps, 8th Fastest runner up.
The decision was taken to run with 18 for this race, and Rob Williams had arrived as reinforcements. The stage had been set within the crew. Win this race, or we have failed. Stakes were high!
We lined up after plenty of the usual faffing and finally we hear ‘Are you Ready? Attention…. GO!’ And we flew off the line. Sparky called the boat up for a reach and it responded. We were ahead, way way ahead. The race was going to plan, for the first time in the day! We took it up for 10 and lengthened our lead to 2 boat lengths. But no! We got to around the 300m mark and the demons set in again. Some of our boat started to tire, and the boat ground almost to a halt compared to Kingston, who were screaming down the course. 350m, neck and neck! Sparky tells us to go, drive for the line and there is nothing in it. I know that I for one was pulling with all my might! We crossed the line and by half a second we took it! 1st Place! 2.06.26 to Kingstons 2.06.70 Oh what a relief! So we had achieved our first goal of the day: Plate Major Final! Meanwhile, the Exmouth guys were continuing their promising first showing with another good time of 2.30.50 in the Plate Tail Final. After a long day it was clear the U18’s were tired, but they have also shown a lot of promise for the future.
Well Done Exmouth CC Dragons!
So the dramatic showdown… ExeCalibre, Typhoon Tigers, Raging Dragons…
We were in lane 1, we were raring to go, and the starter shouted GO! We made a good start but I could feel that we were lacking that same kick as in the last race, I hoped it was just my imagination. We held the crews neck and neck for 300m again, but when we called for it at that point, some people in the boat just didn’t have anything left to give. The other crews pulled away and we were left in 3rd place, with a time of 2.08.58. Disappointing, but I think we all knew why. One word sums up why we didn’t win that race, and the word is TRAINING. If we want to win the 500m (or whatever distance is being run) events, we have to get stuck in at training and train these distances. But the gloss should not be taken off a good day, where we managed to come away with our first trophy of the season. 3rd in the Plate is something I’m willing to take.

For now….