Weeks of preparation and now it's over. We made small refinements to our method this year, mostly successful.
Marker at the Start, in place of the missing Boat Race post.
Banner at the Finish, on the opposite side to the pier. We paced out the number of steps from our position on the pier to the University Stone, then paced out the same from the yellow paint line on the opposite bank. You can just see the painted line on the right of the steps, and our banner to the left.
Copying the Pairs Head, we used a tent pole to mark the near end of the line.
Some of my experienced timers were away this year. I was very fortunate that the KCL club captain found three volunteers. We could not have run the race without them.
This year we re-instated the practice sessions in the week before. Most people came to TSS on the Sunday, which gave us a good session. I am loath to ask people to give up even more time, especially as some volunteers have to travel a distance to get here. The quid pro quo is that I only ask the timers to get on station with 30 minutes to go, no hanging around for hours at the Race HQ.
We normally run timing from Mortlake Anglian and Alpha at Chiswick. But this year Race HQ moved from TSS to Chiswick Pier, and we decided to run the timing from there. It worked very well. It takes a few minutes longer to get to Putney via Chiswick Bridge. I would not risk going via Hammersmith.
Our new numbers - black on yellow - worked well. They are visible with the naked eye at least two-thirds of the way out across the finish line, and with good eyesight right across. It wouldn't hurt if they were a little bigger, but they are a big improvement on the old ones.
Our excellent spotters and timers did a great job of identifying the crews with no number as well. This time we mostly managed to read the Environment Agency 6 character identification.
Our timers met after the race back at The Ship for the Start, and Vesta for the Finish, instead of heading back to Race HQ. This saves valuable time in correcting the data. The Quick times are already up on the VFH website during the race. The corrected times are up as soon as we load the corrections. Then we add penalties and handicaps.
Now it's time to think about next year.