Dragon Boat

The 2011 Dragon Boat regatta in aid of CLIC Sargent took place on Sunday 15th May at the Gloucester Docks.

CLIC Sargent are a registered charity which offers care and support for children and young people with cancer and Griffiths Marshall is very proud to be able to help raise money to help with their cause.

We took part in the morning regatta for the third consecutive year with a full compliment of 16 rowers and 1 drummer made up of a mixture of men and women. At 16 years old, George Apted was our youngest rower.

The day started with bright sunshine, only to cloud over and turn very grey by the time everyone was present at the Docks. However being competitive spirits, we were not deterred.

Heat 1 saw us storm ahead leaving a trail of white water behind us to take first place. Whoops and whistles from supporters added to the feeling of elation felt by the team.

Heat 2 saw us reduce our rowing time by 5 seconds, however it was not enough to secure first place and we rowed in in second place just a few seconds behind the heat winners.

Heat 3 saw us row another fantastic time, less than a second slower than our heat 2 time, but by now we were starting feel the strain physically. We were also rowing against teams of all men which put us, physically, at a slight disadvantage.

An overall combined rowing time of 103.15 seconds secured us a place in the quarter final against some of the fastest rowers of the morning regatta. The claxon sounded and we were off, rowing with all our might. We had a great start, but were, without a doubt out rowed by two very strong teams, one of which went on to win the regatta.