1 1/8 Mile

The big day finally arrived and the boys raced in the Henley Qualifier at 8pm. The Fawley Cup is for Junior Boys Quads and 63 crews entered for 24 places. 16 crews pre-qualified which left 47 of us chasing the remaining 8 places - not good odds, especially for our boys who are still only sixteen. So it wasn't a huge surprise that they didn't qualify - they were about 6 seconds off getting into the race and fairly sanguine about it as they have two more years before they are too old. It's a great experience though, hundreds of people lined the banks, cheering on their own crews and others where they had friends (even when their direct competition!).

For some it was huge disappointment though - as we left we passed a US crew that had flown over especially with a couple of boys sobbing in disappointment at missing out by just 2 seconds.

We get a days break then GB trials in Nottingham - it feels non-stop!