Date: June 2005
A team of Assanka staff and friends raced for the second year in the Twickenham Dragon Boat racing competition, part of the annual Twickenham Festival that takes place every June. We didn't do quite as well as last year, but we like to think it's the taking part that counts.
Last year we teamed up with local law firm Stone Rowe Brewer and won the competition, but this time we decided to go it alone. Fortunately the weather was as good as last year, and the commentary equally bad.
We were short of a drummer for our boat, so I went to ask the announcer to put out an appeal, which he duly did. "We've got a request here for a drummer for the - goodness how on earth do you pronounce that - A san car e ans team. Anyone, big or small, doesn't matter, though if you're light I think that will probably help". This provoked an immediate response, unfortunately not from a potential drummer but from the organisers, who made the announcer clarify his appeal by narrowing the field from "anyone big or small" to "those over the age of eight who can swim in light clothing and are not under the influence of alcohol".
Having acquired a drummer through a hastily arranged drummer exchange progamme with another team, and confirmed that she was over the age of eight, could indeed swim and hadn't drunk anything that morning, we were feeling quietly confident. That is, until we spotted our opponents in the first heat doing star jumps on the bank. I tentatively suggested we should warm up as well, but the team was unimpressed.
By the time we got in the boat, our opponents had stretched, jumped, jogged, huddled, and generally done everything possible to show that they were taking the whole event far too seriously. Unfortunately for us, it worked, and they beat us by a nose. And most of the rest of the boat as well.
Having lost the heat, we went on to lose the first run-off as well, so we were left in contention only for 11th or 12th place. Thankfully, we rounded off the day with a decisive win and avoided the wooden spoon. The day was great fun and winning isn't everything - after all we won last year so we've got to let someone else have a go occasionally.
The team comprised Assanka staff Andrew Betts, Rowan Beentje and Robert Shilston, joined by the two Matts, Jeanine, Jenny, Bill, Ruth and Jami.