The Battle between Thames Valley and Solent and the West Midlands Groups continued over the weekend.

The Thames Valley and Solent team had an interesting start when they visited the bank in the opening moments of the first race. After the initial hiccup; we went on to come first in the second race; second in the third race leaving us to battle with Manchester in the semi-finals.

The semi-finals was a fight! Manchester took the lead from the start but then started to lose the lead during the middle section to-ing and fro-ing in position. In the final stages of the race Thames Valley and Solent had broken away a little ahead of Manchester with Manchester pulling back in the final stages. Unfortunately Manchester ran out of water to regain their lead allowing Thames Valley and Solent to progress to the finals!

In the finals Thames Valley and Solent went head to head with their long-standing rivals, the West Midlands team. The West Midlands team had a great start and unfortunately for Thames Valley and Solent they maintained their lead throughout the race. 

The final scores were:

1. West Midlands
2. Thames Valley and Solent
3. 'Combo B' (with more of our Thames Valley and Solent friends combined with members from Yorkshire, Manchester and South West and South Wales)
4. Manchester

In true Spice style though, regardless of the winners losers and in-betweeners; a great weekend was had by all and the weather was fabulous.

Bring on 2019 Dragon Boat racing for the rematch ;-) West Midlands will be knocked off their perch (hopefully)!