London Scottish took on all comers at the Twickenham Alive Dragon Boat races on Saturday with a boat crew including CEO Kenny Baillie, Community Development Officer Ross Peacock and players and parents from all the age groups.

At stake was the small matter of the cup and bragging rights for the year, and the significantly larger matter of an original “Star Wars” Storm-troopers helmet which the kids eyed enviously throughout the day.
 
With three timed heats to decide who went through to the knock-out stages the competition was on from the start.

Our first opposition was the Treasury, who we narrowly beat with a time of 1:46.

Feeling good, the team then had a long wait before our next outing and retired to throw a ball around and play some tag.

Next came the Richmond Ice Rink team who improved significantly from their first heat knocking 8 seconds off their time.

Sadly, London Scottish went the other way and came in with a time of 1:47 having taken the scenic route with their boat, and a tour round Eel Pie Island courtesy of the helmsmen who decided they needed more training before the race.

The crew retired to the riverbank and for some protein shakes that looked suspiciously like amber nectar – perhaps it wasn’t the best idea to base the team outside the Barmy Arms after all.

Not to matter, the final time trial came and London Scottish had everything to do if they were to make their way to the latter stages.

The crew didn’t miss and came home with their fastest time of the day at 1:42 and a tight win over “Stuck in the Reads”.

Through to the semis and up against the impressive Thames Sub Aqua who had averaged 1:32 in their heats London Scottish knew what to expect.

The team went down fighting, but sadly didn’t have quite enough to beat them.

So we retired gracefully and found ourselves back at the Barmy Arms for a consolation pint and started planning next year’s campaign.

The eventual winners were Twickenham Scouts, who pulled off a remarkable victory in the final and went home happy winners with the Storm-troopers helmet.
 
The next outings for the Community team will be:

·         Sat 28th June    Mortlake Summer Fair

·         Sat 12th Jul       St Margaret’s Summer Fair

·         Sun 13th Jul      Find my Sport (East Sheen)

·         19th-21st Aug    Summer Rugby Camp
 
Why not come along and enjoy the fun!