National League
6th April 2008 - Queens Dock, Liverpool
Early start – 5:00…on a Sunday morning. That was a shock considering my usual wake up at 11:00 to the sound of mum screaming at me to get out of bed from the bottom of the stairs.
Anyway we set of from the clubhouse at around 5:30 for a 3-hour drive to windy freezing Liverpool…fun fun fun! As I expected the journey was long and boring, and it didn’t help that it felt like we were driving through the North Pole, reaching speeds of up to 50mph!! Or the fact that Stuart decided it would be fun to force feed me stone cold coffee…thanks Stuart.
Due to the crazy weather we arrived at Liverpool approximately 20 minutes late to the sound of cheering and clapping, which sadly wasn’t for us in the minibus, but for the boats that had already started racing. About 5 minutes later Dave came to tell us that we had to go for our first race of the day. I was quite nervous considering this was going to be my first ever race in the prem boat, however as always I was more excited which made me forget my nerves altogether and just to concentrate on the race.
It was a good start to the season as we came a close second in the 200 meters and with one successful race under our belts; everyone was in good spirits for the remainder of the day…apart from Daryl who was puking up his insides in the nearest bush.
The races came and went so quickly that before I knew it we were at the start line of the major finals with Amathus on the left and Typhoon Tigers on the right. In my opinion it was the hardest race of the day, and by the end of it I felt and according to Jim, sounded like I was having a heart attack. However we all knew that the worst we could get is third which is pretty good. As it turned out we did come an extremely close third with only 0.04 seconds between Typhoon Tigers and us, but for my first ever prem race that was good enough for me.
At the end of the day Eliot and me were asked to collect the trophies, as it was our first ever race in the premier boat (and almost my last considering I almost lost my paddle three times!). The trophy then stayed in my kitchen for the next week or so before I remembered that I had to give it back. Overall I thought that it was an excellent day, and I can’t wait for Exeter!!
Love from Francesca
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