Determined to try a 'new bit of river', two Novice crews headed for Abingdon to compete in the WN2x category, to find out just how bendy a river can be compared to the Desborough cut.

Elaine Green and Sarah Aylett battled it out first, followed in a later event by Sarah Millwater and Libi Harrison. Scary enough just doing the race, but with a strangely bendy river and all the fun of actually having to trailer our boats to the site we had an excellent scull and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We in no way disgraced the club, negotiating the course well, with both boats completing the course in under 11 minutes. Thanks, too, to a sympathetic marshall for a useful bit of insider knowledge on how to tackle a significant bend - aim at that far bush and clip the 2nd buoy. We actually gave the 3rd buoy a resounding smack too as we skimmed past it. So, no worries about those foreign parts, the Thames upstream is just as good!