Finally, we did it! The culmination of a long season’s training was a phenomenal success for the Execalibre crew. Like it’s namesake, Execalibre rose like a sword from the stone and propelled themselves to 4 trophies and Gold medals all around!

Saturday
The crew arrived bright and early on Saturday, ready for a full day’s Open and Mixed racing. After an epic manager’s meeting had finished and the day’s racing began, we all roused ourselves for the first 200m Open heat at 9.40, lined up against highly impressive Scratch crew Raging Dragons, Henley and Notts Anaconda. A good start to the day was had with a time of 56.19, but unfortunately this still put us 4th just behind Notts Anaconda on a time of 56.01. This time qualified us into the Open Bowl, and although not the fastest crew in the competition on paper, we were quietly confident. Our first Bowl Heat was against Amathus Wasps and Aspire Blue. This heat was easily won by Execalibre with another time in the 56 second region. So it was straight through to the Grand Bowl final for us, in lane 5. On paper, the earlier victors in our head to heads Notts Anaconda were a second faster on paper. But as all British people know, never write off the underdog. A slight reshuffle of boat positions and a steely determination meant that Execalibre were ready to give this final their best shot.
‘Are you ready? Attention… GO!’ And the race began. Awesome start by Execalibre, we’re up a head on Notts. Sparky calls for a Power 5 and we pull another seat away. We’re striding clear now at the 100m point, almost half a boat up. But its not over yet – Notts start to pull back at the 150m mark! Sparky sees this and calls for one last big effort – DRIVE! DRIVE! DRIVE! The boat surges, its neck and neck now, the boats cross the finish line and it’s a photo finish. No-one in either boat knows who has won…
The scoreboard delivers the results. 1st place 55.53. 2nd place 55.54! The closest finish possible… 1st Place Execalibre! We won! A cheer erupts from the victorious crew. Hats off to Notts who gave us an excellent race. But Execalibre make it 1 for 1 on the trophy count!
Open Bowl 200m -› Winners!

Stephen then had a Junior U18 championship final, which his team won by a number of boat lengths in his final juniors year.
(For Stephen) Junior 200m -›Winner!

And so onto the Mixed 200m. First heat, lane 7, 1420. Execalibre were still on a high from the previous Open Bowl victory. But unfortunately racing crews of such a high standard meant that Execalibre could only come 6th in their 7 team heat. So it was through to the Repechages. This race was a good race but again the competition were too good, so only finished 5th out of 6. So it was the Minor Final for Execalibre where a good race was ran and finished up 5th, and 11th overall in the Mixed competition. A good result as we knew the Mixed was never going to be a realistic medal hope, but some good racing and experience gained by all.

Mixed 200m -› 11th
The day ended with the 1000m races. Debbie managed to injure herself racing so went on the drum. Then she managed to cut knuckles doing that! Anyway, back to the racing. We were in heat 1, Lane 2, up against Amathus Wasps, Batchworth Dragons and Henley. The starter called GO and predictably the Premier Crews were off. So it was a race for third between us and the Wasps, who we had conquered in the Bowl previously. An excellent rate and consistent power from the crew meant that Execalibre thrashed the poor Wasps (sorry Jo if you are reading!). Execalibre finished in a very presentable time of 5.14. This was only good enough to qualify for the Tail Race, and as we were only doing it for the experience instead of the points, we decided to withdraw from the final race and grab some much needed R+R for our assault on the 500m the next day!

1000m -› We would have won the Tail, so 13th in my eyes!

Sunday
Mixed 500m championship was the order of the day for Execalibre after an entertaining night out at the Chinese in Nottingham. Thankfully not too many drinks were drunk so the crew were ready for a hectic mornings racing. Heat 2 at 0940 against Amathus Bees, 3 River Serpents and Kingston Royals, with us in lane 4. A good initial time of 2.36 was recorded, but coming 4th meant that we had to rep. Stephen had the junior 500m Championship to attend in the 40 minutes between the race start times also!, so we were back on again at 1020. The repechage was another good performance, with a slightly faster time of 2.35. So it was the minor final for us in the mixed again.
Execalibre got a good start off the blocks and managed to maintain 5th place for the duration of the course, narrowly beating the Secklow 100 mixed crew by less than a second. So 11th overall again in the mixed.

Mixed 500m › 11th

(For Stephen) Junior 500m › Winner!

So to the open, scene of our success the previous day. Harsh seeding saw us in Lane 1, with Thames Titans, Batchworth and Worcester beside us! A disappointing time of 2.45 was recorded, due to fatigue from the morning racing and the lack of that elusive ‘sugar rush’! That was to come…
So we qualified again for the Open Bowl competition then. Not a problem, we were quietly confident. Heat 1, Lane 4 against Secklow 100 and Dragon Tools. The race went to plan but the spark was missing. A slightly faster time of 2.42 was recorded, but still not what we were capable of. Instructions were given to eat eat eat! Sugar was the order of the day, this was the ace in our pack, the SUGAR RUSH!
So came the Open Bowl Grand Final. On paper we were in 5th on times, but with glucose coursing through our veins we knew better than that. The start came…
‘Are you ready? Attention… GO!’ and we flew off the start line. Great start, keeping with Secklow and Kingston Pretenders, both almost 10 seconds faster than us on paper. ‘Power 5… NOW!’ the boat lifted, Nicky our drummer screaming at us on the front, a supreme effort being put in by all. They’re starting to break away at 100m, we’re not letting them go. We call another Power 5 and we hold them. It’s close to the line, we’re in third, lets take it home… GOOOO! Bridget’s leg twitching behind me from the sugar we drive to the finish and cross the line… We take the bronze in the 500m in 3rd place. As we paddle back in, we look to the times on the board: 2.24!!! An astounding 18 SECONDS quicker! 2.24: 2 seconds quicker than Bristol, only 3 seconds slower than the 6th place crew overall, Thames Titans. What a result!

Open Bowl 500m -› 3rd Place

So it comes to the presentation… I am elected as trophy collector and my oh my I was busy! Let’s recap the successes we already know about:

Open Bowl 200m -›1st place trophy
Open Bowl 500m -›3rd Place trophy
(For Stephen) Junior 200m & 500m -›1st Place Trophy

But there was more...WE WON THE BOWL!
This meant a Cup, a Trophy and Gold Medals all around! The team came together and collected our medals like an Olympic champion team, a brilliant result. The only downside to this was the unreturned Bowl Winners Trophy – The Singapore Cup. We have our suspicions who it was…

So all in all, 3 Cups, 1 trophy and Gold Medals all around. Plus we have a 40% Silverware to events ration – not bad I think! Plus Claire, a higher training-to-medals ratio than Batchworth – take that Mickey Doyle!

Here’s to next year, the Assault on the Plate begins here… Be part of it, be there on Wednesdays as we prepare to win more silverware next year!