Henley Junior Regatta 2008

On the 26th April 2008 members of Wokingham Canoe Club took part in the Junior Regatta held by Henley Dragon Boat Club.

We took two teams; a girls team called the ‘Dragonflies’ and the boys team called ‘Wyrmlyns’. In preparation the teams had trained hard, every Wednesday and Saturday, for about four weeks. In the competition the Wyrmlyns were in the under 14’s category and the Dragonflies were in the under 18’s category.

On the day the girls’ team only had seven members so they persuaded Will Henderson to join their team. Just before the race two other girls were recruited into the team: Kay Thompson, who raced all four races and Charlie Hart who raced in two. Without them the girls would have not achieved so much. THANK YOU.

The racing was very exciting and all the team members would like to say a huge thank you to all the supporters and family members who were shouting and cheering throughout. Thanks also, for taking us to Henley in the first place.

There was brilliant weather on the day. Many people suffered with sun burn the next day. The atmosphere at the event was excellent because everyone was having fun and everyone put 100% into the paddling.

In the end we won two trophies; Dragonflies won the under 18’s and Wyrmlyns the under 14’s. Each team member also got an individual medal.

Every team member in both teams would like to say a big THANK YOU to Rod Hart for training us and making this day happen.

Also I have to mention the ‘Wyrmlyns’ chant – it was BRILLIANT! Every team was scared!

Natasha Thompson