For most of the team the race day in Preston started at 3 30 in the morning. We had to be at the club by 4 30 to catch the bus we had rented. A record number (Two) of our team mates had come to be officials and one had volunteered to drive the bus which meant the rest of us could try and sleep on the journey. Nick was helping on the finish line and Steve had his dream job boat marshalling. A few of us had come up the day before and stayed the night. When the bus arrived, the camp for the day had been established. The day felt chilly but not cold and if the rain held off it would be a good conditions for racing. 

We had only managed 16 of the most hardy paddlers for the day but hopefully other teams in the south would have similar challenges. As a special surprise we learned of the plan to run a 2000m race at the end of the day. The BDA wanted to test the course with a number of boats to see how choppy the water would be for next year's European Championships to be held in Preston.

This my first trip to Preston and only Henley's second in recent history. The venue in Preston looked good. It looked like an old docks area converted to hold races with plenty of birds nesting on the cement pontoons. It was nice to see the blue and yellow of Powerhouse who haven't been making a lot of trips south but surprisingly no sign of the Three River Serpents. The goal for the day is to maximise the number of points we get in the league. Beating any of the premier league teams along the way is just a nice bonus. 

In the 200s Henley ended up going through the reps and finally into a tail race. The race was for 7^th to 9^th place overall but it was against the Crusaders and the Kingston Pretenders which meant the winner gets maximum points in the standard league. Henley had a better time in the semis but the Crusaders had better times in the reps and the heats. In the end the Crusaders put in their best time of the day with Henley just half a second behind and the Pretenders in third. 

In the 500s our first heat was against Notts who had managed the major finals in the 200s. For these races the location changed to a more open area of the docs. The wind had picked up and the water was choppy. Luckily we drew lane 1 which appeared to be the most sheltered of the three lanes. Notts got out to a good start and were half a boat length ahead. As Henley got to the halfway point we started to pull them back. By the end it was too close to call. The video showed that Henley managed to pull ahead on the last stroke as Notts' paddles were out of the water. Henley wasn't as lucky in the next race and drew lane 2 and ended up losing to Tao but with a time good enough to be the only standard crew in the minor final and a guaranteed 16 points.

It turned out that Henley didn't register for the 2000m event. It had been an early start and nobody was greatly disapointed at missing the experimental race. The wind had died down and the water looked placid. Only five teams had registered and two of them were Amathus.

It was time pull Steve away from playing with the boats (we may never get him to paddle again) and make the long trek back home. The day ended at 11pm making for a very long day for most of the team but job done with nearly full points for the day.