Shropdoc Severns Dragon Boat Race – Captain’s Blog
Dragon Boat Captain Dr Simon Chapple takes a look back at race day and ‘The Difference Working Together Makes’
With delayed-onset muscle soreness a distant memory, and the excitement from the weekend fading in the light of the working week, I thought it only right to reflect on the achievement of the 2024 Shropdoc Severns’ dragon boat race team.
This was our third year in a row, since the pandemic, taking part in this amazing event to raise valuable funds for Severn Hospice. The hospice team is very close to our hearts because we work seamlessly with them, caring for people across Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin, and Powys.
Our best yet
This year’s race was our best yet and will be hard to beat for memories. Here’s why:
In the weeks preceding the event, we got together a few evenings next to the river in Shrewsbury to do a bit of gentle exercise, walk the route and lift some weights in preparation. The first evening we got together, we jogged around the Severn loop from Frankwell as far as the steps up to the Dana by the railway station.
When we got to the bottom of the steps, some bright spark decided it would be fun to run up the steps to the theme music from Rocky, which made us all laugh between gasps of air! Not content to do it once, and inspired by the music, we ran back down the steps and back up them again, punching the air in true Rocky Balboa style at the top! Then we walked to the pub to discuss our fancy dress theme!
Gru on the drum
The Euros got in the way of doing many more sessions and scuppered any chance we had of getting on the water in some borrowed boats before the event, so the actual day was the first time the largely new 2024 team got into a boat together. It didn’t matter. On the way to the start line for the first heat, resplendent in our Minions outfits with Gru on the drum, our Dragon Boat helmsperson shifted some human weight around in the boat to even us up and gave us some tips on paddle placement.
The first heat felt fast to us all. We concentrated hard on all pulling together in time, which meant that the first two paddlers had to slow down a touch and keep in time to set the rhythm for everyone else.
It’s amazing how quickly the boat accelerates down the course and how fast the paddling can get, but we resisted the temptation to go all out for this first heat and recorded a decent time of 01:29.35.
Heat One
As we came off the water, team members started chatting excitedly with one another about how it felt, checking that everyone felt OK and sharing tips on how not to get wet etc. If you’ve never done a Dragon Boat race before, getting wet is a bad thing because it means paddlers are splashing, producing drag, which slows the boat down.
Over freshly brewed mugs of tea, coffee, and hot chocolate from the field kitchen we’d set up, and in conversation with friends and family who had come from far and wide to take part and support the team, we analysed our chances in the next heat, double-checking that everyone was happy with their position in the boat. And then the time came for our second heat.
Despite the day getting sunnier and warmer, we donned our yellow beanies and Minion goggles again and headed down to the assembly area to get our safety equipment and get on board. We knew we had to work hard to put a decent time on the board, and the helmsperson this time added a great tip on bringing the paddle blades cleanly out of the water to reduce drag, which we all took on board.
Heat Two
Our second heat was a triumph, not least because we were helped on by the loud cheers of, “Minions, Minions!” from our supporters on the riverbank, one voice in particular rising above all others – you know who you are! Unbelievably, we actually sped up our paddling as we passed the supporters on the bank and shaved almost 11 seconds off our time, coming in at 01:18.90.
There was much to celebrate as we climbed out of the boat this time. The leaderboard started filling up with the times of all the other teams, and we started eyeing up the other teams’ performance to see who our closest competitors were. Despite the second heat feeling tough, we did wonder if we had another second or two in us when it came to the third heat.
We fired up the pizza oven and loaded up with carbs before the last heat. During the break, the organisers announced over the tannoy that for the first time this year, they were going to run a ‘major final’ to decide 1st to 4th place and a ‘minor final’ to decide 5th to 8th places. A few of us immediately headed back to look at the leaderboard, where we determined that we would have to do even better on the third heat to stand a chance of getting into the ‘minor final’. It felt like we were a Championship football side trying to make the playoffs and there was much banter about this as we scoffed freshly made Italian pizza in the sunshine.
Heat Three
Finally, the time came to don beanies and goggles once more and head down for our third heat, which would determine whether we made the ‘playoffs’. As we assembled on the dockside, I realised we had been given boat 4 again, which was the same boat we had been assigned in the first heat. Despite all the boats supposedly being the same, I knew boat 4 had a wobbly drummer’s seat and narrower bow, which meant the drummer would be nervous, and the first two paddlers would be banging elbows down the entire course, which is distracting. Using some reverse psychology, I psyched up the team, saying how great it was and how lucky we were to have boat 4 again! It seemed to work.
We conserved our energy on the slow paddle down to the start line, turned around, and came to a standstill before placing paddles in the water for a racing start. We left nothing behind on this third heat and improved our time yet again, shaving another second off with a time of 01:17.85. But would it be enough? As a team, we immediately headed to the leaderboard to check...
As we stared at the board, analysing all the times on there, it slowly dawned on us that we’d missed out on the minor final by 0.17s! There were eight teams faster than us, and we’d had our day… or so we thought.
Wonderful atmosphere and surroundings
We walked back to our tent and our friends and families to celebrate our significant achievement and fired up the pizza oven again for some proper lunch. Let’s be honest, a few of us felt a little deflated despite the wonderful atmosphere and surroundings. We’d done so well, having improved our time consistently in every heat, but that carrot of a ‘minor final’ had been dangled, and we knew it. Never mind. ‘There’s always next year’, we said as some started to make preparations to get home to places as far-flung as Wiltshire.
As we stood saying our goodbyes to some of the team, and a couple more prepared to go and grab a pint, the tannoy sparked into life, announcing the finalists for the day. We quietened and listened to the news…
Back in the race
It was like something from a movie. We couldn’t believe our ears as the organisers announced that one of the faster teams didn’t have enough rowers left at the venue to race and if the Shropdoc Severns would like to come up, we were in the final! You’ve never seen a group of overly excited people move so fast! There was much whooping and high-fives, and despite feeling pretty tired already, we left family to cover up the pizza ingredients while we once again rushed down to the dock to wait for our boat allocation.
This time we got boat 1, which was the same we’d had in heat two where we had worked so well together. This felt good. We paddled along with the other three boats down to the start line and waited for the Sabrina to go past before lining up for the start.
Neck and neck
Silence fell on the start line. We could almost hear our own hearts beating as we waited for starter orders, and then we were off. Our whole focus turned to the timing of the paddles in front of us and the team members beside us, as well as the rhythmic beating of Gru on the drum. As we drew alongside our supporters on the bank, their cheers helped us squeeze every drop of energy we had out of us, and we ploughed on to the finish line, neck and neck with the other teams.
What a day; good on you, Shropdoc Severns!
We recorded our best time in three years of 01:16.28 and came 8th out of 25, raising over £1,300 for the hospice as a team.
In the words of the commentator in the video from our second heat, “And that’s the difference working together as a team makes.”
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