Race Report

DRAFT RACE REPORT
Six Man Canadian Canoe beats Jersey Rowers in rough conditions in London's Great River Race
http://www.greatriverrace.co.uk/

In stormy conditions which saw hail, thunder and lightning as well as might winds and rough water conditions the Six Man paddling team of Tim Rogers, Chris Nicolas, Simon Young, John Searson and Carl Clinton, expertly coxed by Rob Cassin triumphed in its class, being the first of the Jersey Boats and a close race with the best of the 18 man Dragon Boats.

The Thames Race requires rowers or paddlers to take a passenger (Sophie xxxxx) and Cox the 22mile from Tower Bridge to Richmond. The weather conditions made this years' race especially tough for the Canadian Canoe which is designed for calmer lake crossings in Canada than the turbulent conditions of the race.

We were very disappointed to have been handicapped with the rowing boats which have 8 oars in the water rather than 6 paddles; especially since the rowing boats are much more stable and easy to control, having the benefit of rudders. However we accepted our fate and were resigned to a mediocre performance, explained John Searson

However, Rob Cassin did an expert job to cox and paddle them through the many boats that had been set off ahead of them, frequently having to take evasive action to avoid accident or injury as the little boat weaved its way past 300 other boats all competing for the some stretch of water under each of the bridges.

Once we got further up-stream the weather worsened but the water was less choppy and we were able to find a quicker paddling rhythm and motivation as we started to make ground on the much faster Dragon Boats, said Carl Clinton.


CANT ADD MUCH MORE TEXT UNTIL THE RESULTS ARE AVAILABLE?!

Yeah I agree. I was just trying to make the odds sound better 5 paddlers beating 8 oars, but you are right because this is a more honest assessment of efforts especially since you probably did most of the work having to both steer and paddle! I won't submit anything because we agreed Mick T would do that. These were just some suggested words. I will however copy this to Mick T so that he knows to write about 6 paddlers. I don't think we can submit anything until the results are know, but hopefully that will be soon. Thanks for a great weekend and all the training sessions leading up to it. looking forward to paddling and rowing through the autum and winter!
 

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