The sun shone, the waters were calm and the crowds thronged – the perfect day for our local Coastal Sea Rowing Clubs to show-off their skills and the capabilities of Celtic Longboats.
First, a big thank you to all involved in the Conwy River Festival and our very own Conway Yacht Club for organising it again this year – not a mean feat as the event itself spans two full weekends comprising not only the Quay Day with various water sport activities, but also the Regatta Weekend with sail racing in the Conwy Bay and the LaLa Rally with sail and power boats racing to Caernarfon and back through the Menai Straits and the Swellies! All culminating in a wonderful evening of prize giving, buffet and dancing on the 19th July hosted by the Conwy Golf Club – and our thanks also goes to them!
Back to our Celtic Sprints…
Participating crews from Deganwy Rowers, Conwy Rowers and Bay of Colwyn Rowers all met at 10am sharp on Deganwy Beach for the day’s briefing, before rowing over to Conwy Beach to wait our turn for our moment of sprinting.
The course itself while only 300m in length – starting from the RNLI slipway, down to the Liverpool Arms, with a tight turn around a buoy and back – called for an explosion of muscle burning energy which each and every rower delivered spurred on by the crowds, music and sprinting peers! Our 9 crews deftly demonstrated to our quayside audiences, and our local Mayor and councillors watching from the observation cruise boat, how a Celtic should and could be handled!
A BIG thanks also goes to…
our Race Officer – Simon Halliday, for organising the Sprint Displays and co-ordinating with the Harbour Master and other key personnel
…our Marshalls – Gary Thomas, Neil Buckingham, Jan Bertenshaw & Jean Hamer, for ensuring the safe launching and recovery of each crew
…the all-important Sprint Monitors – Gaynor Davies and Sarah Quilliam, who made sure the sprints ran like clockwork!
…and our superb Catering Team Mike Bertenshaw, Ros Jones and Ben Nicholls who put on an amazing spread for our local dignitaries, which any fine dining establishment would have been proud of!
A glorious day of fun, sun and sprinting was rounded off with refreshments at one of the local hostelries, before we all headed home – such a contrast to last year when it poured with rain! A huge thanks goes out again to all who participated and were involved in making it such a marvellous day to remember!!
Deganwy Rowers’ Roving Reporter – Kate
