A fantastic days racing all around. The first event entered as an independent Execalibre crew, and the difference was profound. Execalibre finished the day 3rd in the plate, and in all fairness should have won. The day started well in the 200m, and with the addition of 2 or 3 paddlers in the afternoon, managed to easily qualify for the plate major final, finishing first and fastest runners up in the heats and semis respectively. The crew were the 2nd fastest plate crew in the 200m, but unfortunately were not quite fast enough to qualify for the 200m finals. The 400m came after lunch, and Execalibre made a signal of intent in the first 400m heat. Despite only having 13 paddlers, they breezed through in their heat setting a time of 1.52. This put them straight through to the 400m Plate Semis, against Bristol Empire Dragons. We added 3 extra paddlers to our boat by this time, so the numbers were slightly more even, although we did have the slow lane in lane 2. On our left in lane 3 were the Amathus Bees. The race was very closely fought, with Execalibre in the lead, just, until the last 50m when Amathus Bees just found that extra push for the line to take them ahead of us. Despite not winning the semi, we were easily the fastest Semi runner-up, with a time of 1.52.47. Amathus finished in 1.52.07 and Cardiff registered a time of 1.52.29. The final therefore was set to be an exciting and very close one. This is how it proved to be. The 400m finals were closely contested, and until 300m down the course Execalibre were breezing ahead of the competition. An excellent start took us away and the bolstered crew fought hard down the course to maintain the lead. Unfortunately however fatigue took its toll and Execalibre ended up finishing a narrow 3rd, less than half a second behind the eventual winners. Still this cannot take away from an excellent achievement by Execalibre, who proved conclusively that they can compete with the upper echelons of the Plate competition. With the new training regime in place taking us from the bottom of the plate at Cardiff to the top end at Exeter, it signals an exciting future for the club, who have now seen a glimpse of their potential if they continue to work hard at their training and their racing. Let us hope that the improvement continues until the National Cup at Nottingham! Well done to all those who raced on the Sunday, and keep up the good work. 3rd place is an excellent achievement. Let us hope to do even better in the future. Here's to Execalibre!

Full Race Results