The DW was an epic race.
We knew before we started that it was going to be tough as we had had less than optimal training and the conditions (specifically flow and tide times) weren't great. However we set off in good spirits and kept to our race pace, just ahead of our Teddington cut off time and were feeling in by the time we got to dreadnought reach. Getting back on the river however it was apparent that the small amount of flow on the Thames that we had hoped for just wasn't there, and despite going all out we started to fall behind our cut off times, so came of the water at Old Windsor lock. We decided to take a long break then paddle slowly to Teddington and wait for the next tide. Paddleing down the tideway was nice to have a little bit of help from the water at last and for the first time I was glad for the stability of our Kirton Tasman as narrower boats were precariously knocked around by the wash from the big boats in London. By the end of it my body was broken but I wouldn't have missed it for the world.
Look forward to getting back to training once my shoulders working again and maybe next year I'll catch the first tide. Thanks ever so much to our support team and to all of the encouragement we received.
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