After a great team effort dressing the boat, erecting the event shelter and generally getting everything sorted out it was time to get on the water for those much anticipated, and somewhat dreaded first races of the day. The Open crew kicked off at 10.00am in the first 200m race, seeded well from their fabulous Major Final win at Exeter. They did what was required, winning their heat in 49.8 sec, but losing precious seconds because of some calculated wash-hanging from Kingston Pretenders, who amazingly ended up finishing just 0.5 seconds behind them. Funnily enough the Pretenders went 3 seconds slower in their next race!

Next up was the Blades, with Ed helming in his first BDA League race (we couldn't really see his knees knocking!). The Blades had a tough heat with Hurricanes and then Crusaders in lane 1 (wash-hanging their way to a fast time!) but recorded a good time of 53.03 secs. This time put them into the Tail 2 race where despite fighting tooth and nail, they were pipped at the post by Amathus Bees by just 0.2 secs. Great effort and the timing was looking awesome from the side!

It has to be said at this point that both crews and their helms maintained their composure excellently on the start line, despite some very odd instructions from the starter and some very dodgy line-ups!

In the meantime the Open crew had qualified for Semi 1 and took on Amathus and Raging Dragons in a battle which resulted in a third place position, by about 0.2 secs. Their time was an improved 48.39 seconds which qualified them for the Minor Final. So, Exe-Calibre went into the 200m in lane 1, battling against Raging Dragons and Notts Anaconda. A hard fought race ended with the right result, Exe-Calibre winning in 49.90 secs. Annoyingly Worcester had qualified for the Major Final with a slower time than us - but hey ho, that's sport!

After an extremely quick lunch break, the 500m (or rather 450m) challenge was upon us. The Open were up first in Lane 2 and yet again dragged a crew along with them, but managed to maintain first place in a time of 1 min 48.96 secs. Verbal warnings about lane infringements were becoming a frequent occurrence, but not for our lovely, polite and sportsmanlike Exe-Calibre helms!

Next up were the Blades in a very tough heat against Secklow 100 and Worcester, both Premier Crews. Yet again Secklow got a free-ride from Worcester's wash, leaving the Blades battling the waves in Lane 3 and taking third place in 2 min 4.45 secs. This put the Blades in Plate Rep 1, again in lane 3 and this time they really pulled together, snatching second place from Amathus Bees by 0.2 secs in a hugely improved time of 1 min 56.03 secs and just a smidgen behind Crusaders. Awesome paddling and great team-work.

The Open crew then took on Kingston Royals and Kingston Pretenders together in the Cup Semi - a huge dogfight ensued but Kingston Royals just took the win by 0.2 secs - squeezing us out of the Major Final. Annoyingly, Worcester qualified for the Major Final with a slower time than us - but hey ho, that's sport (she says through gritted teeth!).

The final races of the day saw Exe-Calibre Blades taking on Amathus Bees and Cool Runnings. I had the pleasure of drumming for this race and have to say that the Blades have really come together as a team at this event. They were calm, collected, powerful and all working together - a great performance. They were just pipped by Cool Runnings to take second place, by, you've guessed it, about 0.2 secs! A fabulous display of teamwork and commitment - well done Exe-Calibre Blades!

The 450m Minor Final saw Exe-Calibre Open up against TAO and Notts Anaconda, in lane 3, having qualified with the slowest time. The pressure was on but the team remained calm and controlled, blasting off the start line and getting into the big Exe-Calibre strokes. A photo-finish ensued, with the result not being announced until the presentation ceremony, but Exe-Calibre Open had won, probably by about 0.2 secs (the times were never published!).

Finally, it was time to bring out the big guns! Exe-Calibre Maidens donned their snazzy Purple race tops and lined up against three other ladies crews. A cracking start saw the Maidens out in front from the beginning and they powered home in first place, and with a whole lot more than 0.2 secs between them and the next crew!

A great day of racing, some lovely league points to bring home for Exe-Calibre Dragon Boat Club and lots of sunshine and smiling faces.

A special mention must go to Ed, who in helming his first league event, did a brilliant job. His helming skills were superb, he remained calm and collected and gave the right calls at all the right times, and lead the Blades team with a great positive attitude. Well done Ed! Also, special thanks to Chrissie, who did a great job of drumming for most of the Open crew races. Well done and many thanks for what was surely a very tiring day for you indeed.

Congratulations to Paul Bickham who managed to survive his first race event intact and come out smiling! Well done to Chris Duringer who did a great job of drumming for the first time ever!

A HUGE 'well done' to everyone, you all did Exe-Calibre proud, and I know that all the GB'ers back from Tampa really enjoyed getting back to racing with our most favourite bunch of people.