Rain in Exeter doesn’t dampen Exe-Calibre’s Spirits!

Well what can I say? Exeter Quay Sunday 17th May – what an amazing day.

For the first time ever Exe-Calibre fielded an A Team and a B Team, and an entire Ladies team! On paper the A Team was the strongest crew Exe-Calibre has ever had at a BDA event – with all crew members sub 1 min 30 in their trapper time trial – Exe-Calibre had the BIG GUNS out on show today. A real testament to all the hard work and commitment of six months of hard winter training (for training read ‘beasting’ and ‘abuse’!). We also had our secret weapon – a very hung over Glenn on the drum (what’s new?).

So, we started the day with high hopes and great expectations!

The A team began their pursuit of league points with the 200m, going in the first heat of the day and unfortunately put in a slightly lack-lustre performance (uh oh! The dreaded first race syndrome!), coming third against Kingston and Colenorton. This put us into the tail race against Colenorton (again) and Notts Anaconda. After a ‘mild’ telling off from Steve the team picked up their game and came first beating Colenorton soundly by about 3 seconds, Notts Anaconda were clearly too scared to race us because they didn’t turn up! So, a lovely 14 league points for the 200m – not a bad start to the day!

Meanwhile, the Exe-Calibre Scratch team were paddling as hard as they could and holding their own despite many novice paddlers. Their best 200m time of the day was a worthy 1 min 5 seconds.

Oh, we also need to mention that this all happened during some of the worst conditions experienced at the Exeter event – pouring rain and howling wind, not nice at all!

So, on to the 450m – traditionally Exe-Calibre’s better event. Luckily during lunch the weather conditions eased slightly and the sun even came out during our 450m races – clearly a portent of our good fortune to come!

Our first heat was against Worcester Dragonflies and Thames Thaniwas. We came second with a very respectable time of 1 min 42.01 secs which put us into the cup semi against Worcester Dragons (should be Premier team) and BA (Premier team) – so, we were up against the big boys! We paddled our socks off, shaving 2 seconds off our time and coming in third in a very close race just behind BA.

Meantime, Exe-Calibre B Team were getting out there and improving their time with every race, from 2 mins 9 seconds to 2 mins 2 seconds in their last 500m – well done guys!

The A teams excellent time in the semi had qualified them for the Cup Minor Final, for the first time in the six year history of the club! The challenge was laid down – win that and be the 4th fastest crew over 500m in the country! That magic 1 min 40 secs barrier was also beckoning…..

Exe-Calibre lined up in the MINOR (yes, minor!) final alongside BA (again) and Thames Raging Dragons with nothing in their minds except getting to that finish line before the other crews. Are you ready? Attention! Go! Exe-Calibre got an awesome start and fought every step of the way with their biggest, bestest strokes (honest, Coach!) and pulled something absolutely magical out of the bag at the line, coming FIRST (yes, first!), winning the Cup Minor Final (another Exe-Calibre record) and beating two Premier teams! 15 lovely league points (Yes, we all know Worcester should be in the Premier league!) and a great feeling for everyone in the club!

So, to summarise for those of you who missed the details!

How exciting and what a great feeling to do so well on our home ground. Unfortunately, the rain for most of the day meant that the usual crowds of spectators stayed away. Only a few who dared to brave the rain and wind, and the race participants who had to be there, were outside in this! This was a shame as the Exeter event is usually a lovely sunny day out on the quay, and was followed by a three day Bank Holiday weekend of glorious sunshine. Even driving home afterwards, there was no-one around except people who had to be outside! However, the club members still managed to have fun and enjoy ourselves though, helped by great support from previous team members who weren’t paddling with us for various reasons, who still came to cheer us on and give us their encouragement.

We also entered two teams this year for the first time ever, and considering the fact that a number of paddlers in the second team were paddling together for the first time in the actual race, they did a great job.

The Exe-Calibre ladies, after a rather rushed entry into the boat (with some major balance problems) managed a worthy second to Kingston, the best women’s crew in the country! Lisa managed to helm, but couldn’t manage to call as she was too busy trying to make the boat go in a straight line!!!

So, onwards and upwards, the next challenge of course is to win the Cup Major Final!

Article in Exeter Express & Echo.

Full Race Results (pdf file)