'Pool of Life' News 2009
National League Races held at Nottingham - Sunday, 28 June 2009:
It was an early start so that we could arrive in Nottingham to set up our base camp ready for our first race! We were lucky to have the sun shining down on us and as we sat by the River Trent it was so idyllic that we almost forgot that we had come to paddle!
But we had two paddlers missing! Where were Paula and Chris? Wendy’s phone rang – on their way into Nottingham Paula and Chris had seen a dragon boat in the distance and tried to follow it but unfortunately they lost sight of it and finished up at the National Water Sports Centre at Holme Pierrepont! “Don’t think this is the right place!” they both said. However, with further directions they arrived safe and sound, giving us a wave as they crossed the River Trent!
Our first race wasn’t until 10.50am when we were in Heat 6 against Cool Runnings and Typhoon Tigers (both Premier League teams)! Although we only had 15 paddlers in the boat, we had 6 strong Amathus men to help us along. We paddled down to the start line concentrating on our warm up and we felt the boat was running great. Things didn’t run smoothly on the start line for the teams as the starter had problems getting the boats on line to start the race. However, eventually we came under starter’s orders and off we went down the 200m course. We kept up with the other 2 teams for quite a way and our time was 55.28secs – under one minute – excellent result!! When we saw that Amathus Bees in the previous race had a time of 51.78secs – only 4 seconds faster – we were even more pleased with our achievement.
Our next race wasn’t until noon, so after the warm down it was feet up for a while with a drink and time for a quick girly chat.......................
Question from Wendy to Heather (who was holding a bottle of frozen water) “How did you get the ice in that bottle, Heather?” ................!! Had our Chairperson had too much sun!!
So on to the tail race against Worcester Dragonflies. This was an extremely tight race but we were pipped at the post. We put in a time of 54.24secs against the Dragonflies with 53.62secs! One second faster than our previous race – again an excellent time! Amathus Bees did a time of 52.38secs in their tail race – only 2 seconds faster!
After a break for lunch it was time for the 450m races.
As our first race wasn’t until 2.40pm, we soaked up a little more sun – perhaps a little too much as more funny quotes just kept coming. This time it was Heather’s turn!
A discussion ensued on foods that increase your body temperature and which are best avoided if you suffer from hot flushes whilst on Tamoxifen! .....................
Heather then remarked, “I have never had lamb and grapes, I wonder what that tastes like?!
Ah, well, let’s get on with the races!
In our first 450m race we found ourselves up against Typhoon Tigers and Cool Runnings again. Down to the start line we paddled concentrating on our warm up and practising our 30 stroke start.
Under starter’s orders and off we went down the course, shouts of encouragement from our drummer and helm to finish with a time of 2mins 12.31secs. We came in behind Typhoon Tigers and Cool Runnings but we certainly gave it all we had!
Our next race was at 3.30pm and we found ourselves in the Plate Competition and up against Typhoon Tigers once more and Kingston Pretenders. Again, there were problems on the start line and the starter asked us to paddle back but before we could get our paddles back in the water ready for the start we heard her call “go” to find the other 2 boats ahead of us on the start! Our time was 2mins 10.40secs – so that wasn’t too bad to say we weren’t ready! We had to hold our helm, William, back as he was ready to make a complaint!
Our final race was the Plate Tail Race at 5.00pm, so we had more time to soak up some of that sunshine and, of course, more girly talk! .........................
The biggest laugh of the day came from discussing Kate’s “gadget”.........need we say more!!
In our final race we were up against Typhoon Tiger Fury (a change from Typhoon Tigers) and our time was 2mins 09.04secs – again, we were just pipped on the line. We had, however, finished on a high as this was our last race and we managed to achieve our fastest time in the 450m races!
We all set off for home having had a brilliant day with some funny moments to remember. In fact, probably everyone was still chuckling about Kate’s “gadget” all the way home!
A big thank you to our Amathus supporters who paddled with us, our helm William and our drummers, Katy, Karen and Wai!
It was first time racing for our new member, Linda, who thoroughly enjoyed herself and has assured us that she is looking forward to the Preston event. As she is the third Linda in our group, she is happy to be called Linda No.3!
Our next race event is on Sunday, 26 July, at Preston – so let’s hope we have more sunshine and laughter coming our way!!
Happy paddling!
Big G
AMATHUS DBC FUN DAY SUNDAY 29TH NOVEMBER 2009
The "fun day" was organised by Amathus DBC in order to raise money for Club funds and introduce people to dragon boat racing. Members had brought along families, friends and work colleagues to make up teams of 14 paddlers or more to race against one another.
The weather once again was not favorable! Gray skies and cold winds to be followed later in the day with rain but this did not dampen our spirits!
We set up our cake and merchandise stall in the cafe. We had plenty of sumptuous cakes and mince pies to sell and as always they went down a treat. Ali, again, was in charge and did a brilliant job once more. She was ably assisted in the morning by our fragile Chairperson, who had made a train journey from Manchester after parting on Saturday night(or as Wendy called it "a pampering weekend")!!
We raised £80 plus on the cake stall which we donated to Amathus and £58.10 on the Pool of Life merchandise. Thanks to everyone who either made or bought the cakes, and other crafty merchandise as well as a big thank you to Ali.
We had 8 teams competing and they were:-
Pool of Life, The Changs, Warrington Orientals, Dragon Boat Wannabees, Splash Cats, Trentham Paddlers, "Russelled" up and Ruthless (one of the paddlers was called Russell)!! and the 13th Warrington Scouts.
Our first opponents of the day were The Changs. Off we went down to the start line - the course was approximately 400m. We looked across at our opposition and, although they did not have as many paddlers, we saw that there were two or three of the open squad in the boat!!! A little friendly banter took place before we came under starters orders. Off we went giving it our all. We were out in front and managed to cross the finish line first! This was an excellent start but could we keep it up?
Our third race was against Trentham Paddlers. Lynda and Dave Whiston, members of Pool of Life, had brought up a team from their local canoe club based at Trentham (where the Pool of Life had spent a great day with them on 1st November). We knew we had a tough race on our hands as their team was predominantly male! With a little more friendly banter before we set off, we gave it everything but at the end we found that they were to strong for us!
The weather was not being too kind to us either, as it had now started to rain. So it was time for a nice hot cup of tea and just one or two delicious cakes, which certainly cheered us all up!
To finish the days racing we had the Relay Races.
Team 1: Trentham Paddlers and Splash Cats
Team 2: Pool of life and The Changs
Team 3: Warrington Orientals and Dragon Boat Wannabees
Team 4: 13th Warington Scouts and Russelled up and Ruthless
Well there's a first time for everything and a relay race in a dragon boat is certainly that! We were up against Trentham Paddlers and Splash Cats in our first race. Pool of Life set off first against Splash Cats. Coming round the Water Sports Centre the changeover was very close and sponges were used for batons(except that they were WET sponges by this time) The Changs and Trentham paddlers set off for the second leg but unfortunately Trentham Paddlers got to the finish line first.
Our second relay race against 13th Warrington Scouts and Russlled up and Ruthless was sadly a repeat of the first! Nevertheless, we had a lot of fun and a great laugh.
The day finished with the presentation of the trophies. Everyone looking rather wet and bedraggled (but still managing a smile) clapped and cheered each team.
Trophies were presented to to "Russlled up and Ruthless" who came first, Dragon Boat Wannabees second and Trentham Paddlers third.
Pool of Life came 4th just missing out on a trophy!
Finally, a big thank you to everyone who took part and made the day such a success. Looking forward to the next one.
Happy Paddling
BIG G
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