Eyot Canoe Club, still smiling at the end of the event

On Sunday a record turn out of over 200 hardy paddlers from all over the country met at the Eyot centre in Henley for the first of this years Henley Winter Series of long distance Dragon Boat races.

The morning saw 11 teams preparing their brightly coloured boats, complete with dragon heads and tails. As a further preparation for the race to come, many paddlers could be seen clasping cups of tea and coffee in their hands to fight off the bitter winter chill. The consolation for the cold however was the sight of Henley looking at its absolute best as the silvery winter sun broke through the mist and lit up the frost covered ground.

The teams set off at one minute intervals for the circular 7.5km race, up to Temple Island and back, both starting and finishing at the Eyot centre. If that sounds easy then think again. The teams are more used to short 200m and 500m sprint races and for many of them this was the first time they’ve tackled such a long distance race.

As the boats sped down the course, those who had started near the front couldn’t help but look over their shoulders, as Masters International, last years champions and Senior Contenders, the new kids on the block, picked their way through the field. The two were comprised of world class paddlers and so it was expected that the winners would come from one of them, and so it proved, the question was, who would take the winning medals home? In the end only one second separated the two favourites, after more than half an hour of hard racing.

It was a spectacular sight as crews jostled for position along the course, the sound of clashing paddles could even be heard above the drumming as some, including the home team from Henley Dragons, got just a little bit too close! At one stage they were three abreast coming through the bridge for the second time and the paddlers gave it all they had as they neared the finish.

Battling each other, and the multiple pains of cold weather and exhaustion, all crews successfully crossed the line, steam rising, like the early morning mist, from the exhausted, but satisfied paddlers.

The final results were:

Position	Crew Name	Time
1	Senior Contenders	31:13
2	Masters International	31:14
3	Henley Dragons	33:34
4	BA Hurricanes	35:04
5	Complete WRECKS	35:17
6	Kingston Royals	35:53
7	Worcester Dragons	36:11
8	TIAMATS Secklow 100	38:29
9	Bristol Empire Dragons & Co	39:39
10	Fallen Angels	41:24
11	Eyot Canoe Club (ten man boat)	45:37

Congratulations to Senior Contenders, winning the event at their first attempt, and to Kingston Royals, the winners of the new for this year, handicap trophy, who were fastest in comparison to their own best time from last year.

(21/11/05 Ed: Errrr we have a confession to make... in a fit of over-efficiency we plugged the wrong formula into our spreadsheet - resulting in awarding the HWS Handicap prize to the WRONG CREW!!!! How embarassing!!! The 'real' winners were in fact Complete WRECKS, who improved on their target time by the biggest amount. Apologies to both the WRECKS and of course to Kingston. Perhaps you can keep the trophy, it'd be too cruel to ask for it back now! We will get an extra trophy made and present it to WRECKS at the next HWS event)

A special mention must go out to the team of canoeists from the Eyot centre, who bravely fought their way around the course in a smaller, ten man boat. They may have finished last but they weren’t far behind some of the larger boats at the end.

As a bonus, all the Dragon Boat crews were also entered into the Phyllis Court Regatta, which took place at the same time as the Winter Series race. As the crews battled around the long distance race, they were also timed over the shorter regatta course. While the results have not yet been published, we would like to thank Phyllis Court for allowing us to take part, and inviting us to join them after the event for salmon and other niceties beyond bacon butties.

The Henley Winter Series raises money towards the Eyot Centre rebuilding fund, and so many thanks to all the people who came from far and wide to compete, and the helpers and officials who made it all possible. In particular Tony Hobbs MBE of Hobbs of Henley who generously sponsored and presented the first set of our fantastic new medals, and Vodaphone, who are also donating towards the fund.

The next race in the series takes place on Saturday the 10th of December, all the teams will be eager to improve their times, and some will want to settle some scores.

For more information about the Henley Winter Series, and the sport of Dragon Boat racing itself visit www.henleydragons.com.

Race reporter: Dave Allen