A huge thank you to all the crews who attended the Henley Winter Series race yesterday. Despite it being extremely cold (-7degrees when we arrived to set up!!), the weather was stunning and this set the scene for a positive and extremely enjoyable event.

Apart from the mud you would never have known that just a month ago the whole field had been under a foot of water! (click here for photos).

9 crews took part, amoungst them Kingston Pretenders were in the line up for the first time, reinforcing the fact that Kingston are going from strength to strength. It was their Premier crew, Kingston Royals, who scooped the Club competition medals once again, and no doubt they're gunning for a hat trick in the March event.

Typhoon Tigers looked strong as they took the Handicap trophy, which is awarded for the biggest relative improvement from the last event. Well done guys - keep going at that rate of improvement and Kingston Royals will have to watch out!

It was however Masters International who took the spectators by surprise as they stormed around the course, leaving everyone else in their wake - breaking the course record in a superb time of 30 minutes and 51 seconds. No doubt they'll be aiming to break the 30 minute mark next time.

Masters International powering towards the final turn

A huge thank you yet again must go to the guys and gals of Henley Dragons for putting on a fantastic event. Everything ran smoothly apart from a near miss as 5 of our guys tried to rev away from the landing stage in the 'safety' boat, ploughing the bow straight down into the water and nearly losing the Eyot Chairman over the front! Luckily they all survived and said Chairman, Steve Cook was able to present the medals to the winners of the day!

Before the results were announced, Jean Edwards who'd organised the recent Henley Dragons Sponsored Marathon paddle presented Steve with a cheque for £1120. 18 members of Henley Dragons took part in the 26 mile paddle from Benson to Henley in October. They were raising money for 2 causes - to equip a bit more of the Eyot Centre, and for the Lymphoma Society. A grand total of £2240 was raised, which was split between the two causes. The Lymphoma charity was chosen because the daughter of two of our most loved members, Chris and Wendy Fowler, has recently successfully completed treatment. Claire looked happy and well as she joined the crew for the dragon boat marathon. We wish her well on her final steps back to full health and normality. A huge well done to everyone from Henley who took part in the marathon. Photos from the event can be seen here.

And so, the results were announced to much applause and it was off to the pub! See you all in March, fingers crossed.

Position	Crew	Time
1	Masters International	30:51
2	Kingston Royals	33:33
3	Henley Dragons	35:01
4	BA Hurricanes	35:07
5	Bristol Empire Dragons	35:36
6	Typhoon Tigers	37:36
7	Secklow 100	39:23
8	Kingston Pretenders	41:48
9	Worcester Magic Dragons	43:30

More photos can be seen here.

PS come back Jules, all is forgiven, what else could possibly keep you at Kingston now you've won a Henley Winter Series medal?!