The start of the 2010 European championships is less than a week away and our first major test of the season looks set to be a tough one. The event blog here shows a pretty tough entry list with top teams coming from all of the main match racing countries in Europe.Having competed at this event twice before we know most of the competition quite well and experience tells us that things will be close with the possibility of either winning or finishing last not ridiculous. One of the slightly unique things about this event is that they are running both the men's and women's events at the same time. Not only is this interesting logistically with two race course needed and two sets of boats and umpires etc but it will also add a pleasant and quite rare female element to the social dynamic at these usually male dominated events. Conveniently it also means we can share an apartment with Lucy, Annie and Ally who we have done quite a lot of training this season with as well as grilling their coach after racing for any extra tips.