Met Report

A conveniently placed bar at the 1750m board proved to be the ideal place to watch the racing at Dorney Lake yesterday and there was some spectacular racing taking place.
First out of the blocks were the women's S2 4+ who charged off the start like a scolded cat. By 500m they were 1/2 a length up but a strong field managed to reel them in before the finish line. A brave row from this gritty crew showing plenty of promise for Reading this coming weekend.
Next up was the men's 8 at S3. With the pressure of Sir Steve Redgrave watching them they had a shaky start but quickly got up to speed and by the finish it was a 2 horse race between them and Exeter Uni who pipped them by a bow ball.
Stepping up a level to S2 the 8 were out racing again within the hour and managed to take 3rd place and a slot in the repercharge where they put in a massive effort to take 1st place and a place in the final.
The women's 8, racing at S3 took on a tough draw to take 4th place which put them in the repercharge, beating Aurial Kensington by a huge 18 seconds. A tight field in the repercharge again saw them take 4th place with just 3 seconds separating the middle 4 boats.
With the bookies touting odds on either Exeter Uni or CBRC to win the S3 final the boys were feeling the pressure and it showed as they again had a nervous start. Despite a devastating 1000m push they were left with too much to do and took 3rd place behind Exeter and Southampton Unis.
With just the S2 final left to row the boys looked relaxed as they paddled up to the start. Another strong row from Bristol saw them quickly dispatch of arch rivals Downing College and put them in the thick of the main pack where they finished 6th of 7 but with just 2 seconds covering 3rd to 6th place.
All in all a fine day out with the club showing much promise for the big H in a few weeks.