Exeter were first into veiw around 750m from the finish, followed closely by Staffordshire and, lo and behold, Leicester. With 500m left, a medal was in the bag for sure, but Staffs took the silver by two feet. Leicester, for the first time ever, came home from BUSA with medals. Not a statement that would be easily forgotten. As we boated from Mortlake and Anglian boathouse, we could not have asked for better conditions - a sunny day, and the tideway was like a millpond.
Crews range from absolute novices, to Olympic gold medallists.
As we powered away from Mortlake, our rhythm was strong and we settled onto a solid 34. Barnes bridge arrived in just over 3 mins, quicker than we had planned, and we were ready to overtake our first crew. The aggressive coxing of Phelan Hill didnt let us lighten off for a single stroke, as he resolutely kept the boat in the stream. After about eight minutes we charged past Chiswick Eyot, and the Leicester Uni reserves raced along the bank on bikes running over innocent members of the public and shouting encouragement. We overtook City of Hamburg, and began to bear down on Sheffield.