The Lee Valley White Water centre is always an epic course to raft and the team worked it accordingly; demolishing the time trail, striking fear into their competitors hearts in the head to heads and hitting at least 2 upstream gates in the slalom (yes that’s right 2…….how d’ya like them apples). With cries of “get to the chopper” and “put the cookie down” Andy “power house” Lister put his Arnie impressions and strength to good use ensuring the boat remained straight and true through everything the lee valley waters had to through at us, as well as also showing us the unique way in which the raft on their own in Scotland.
They say every day is a school day and whilst some might think there isn’t anything further that Team Oarsome could learn about about rafting or life in general, their eyes were opened to new rafting tactics delivered by Fieke who elightened the team about the unique way in which the Netherlands Ladies team explained the workings of the white waters (let’s just say it was rude).
The Hero Race
A new event was created for the London 2012 British Raft Race series, with an aptly named hero race. The race required the teams to wait in the top pool of the course and estimate the 1min count down (leaving prior to the end of the minute resulted in a heinous penalty…….well 50 points). Team Oarsome paddled majestically towards the line and by the first corner had heroically over taken (backwards) the raft club, aka Team GB mens.
Pain is Temporary, Glory is forever
The endurance was the typical hardcore torture that had been experienced 12 months prior, yet Team Oarsome still gracefully rose to the challenge and made light work of it. An eternal four painful laps of the flat water, followed by an epic four laps of the course saw Team Oarsome put to the test, with Anna Glue of Oarsome fame subbed in to replace Richard who had to leave on a polar expedition. Through gritted teeth and much determination the team did not stop paddling and gloriously maintained a top five position throughout the race
Golden Glory
Having battled hard Team Oarsome maintained its position within the top five in the country, taking a well-earned 4th position and receiving its luxury Team GB related prizes from non-other than London 2012 Gold Medalist, Etienne Stott.
Viva la Oarsome!
Team GB ladies
Many thanks for Team GB ladies for the support, enthusiasm and generally being Oarsome. As a mark of appreciation Team Oasrsome Media have put together a special video
Scottish Rafting Technique
Andy Lister of the Scottish Rafting Association shows us his unique skills in the raft.