The Regatta Final

Text 1: One Heart, by Larissa Thorne

An original novel extract.

By the thousand-metre mark the pain had stopped being a feeling and become a place, somewhere we all lived now, the four of us, with no way out but the finish. My thighs were on fire. My lungs dragged at the air like a torn sail. In front of me Hannah’s back rose and fell, rose and fell, and I watched the dark patch of sweat between her shoulder blades because it was the only thing in the world that kept still.

‘Ten strokes!’ Femi screamed from the cox’s seat. ‘Give me ten! Now!’

We gave her ten. I do not know where they came from. Out of the corner of my eye I could see the bow of the Durham boat, level with us, then a little behind, then level again, as if the two crews were tied together by an invisible rope. The river roared. The banks were a blur of colour and noise. Catch, drive, finish, recover. Catch, drive, finish, recover. Our four blades went in together and came out together, and for a few strokes we were not four tired girls at all but a single animal, one heart, one breath, pulling for the line.

How does Larissa Thorne use language and structure to show the crew’s effort and unity in the race?

You should use relevant subject terminology to support your answer.