Messing about on the river!

On Saturday 2nd September the Rotary Clubs of Cookham Bridge and Marlow Thames held their annual Regatta in Cookham.  Due to our undeniable success in 2016 we decided to have another bash this year in the Canoe Cat races and our able team of rowers (President Mike, Elisa-Jade, David Gratton, James B, Katherine, Keith , Nisha and David Gunn) spent literally minutes training and building up their stamina in the weeks leading up to the big event.
 
It was a beautiful day, and the rowers and the support team pitched up their deckchairs on the river bank and out came the picnics. After a shaky start to the first race (where our team rowed off in the wrong direction to get to the start line) the team rallied together but only managed to come second (or rather, they lost). The second race saw more success, and a more strategic positioning of rowers in the boat (big lads at the back) seemed to streamline our efforts and the race was won!
 
Whilst all this was going on, I entered Bagel (my beagle) into the dog show (the “Most Handsome Dog” class) but sadly it seemed the judges were unable to spot perfection and we came away unplaced.   A few days later I received an email from the organisers to say that because our team won the second race we had actually won a trophy! Still not entirely sure how that happened, but we will gladly take it!
 
There’s talk of us entering the Dragon Boat races next year for which considerably more training will need to take place. I believe there is drumming involved. Looking forward to it already!
Victoria

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