Again the Great River Race doesn’t disappoint! 267 rowing boats from the UK, Europe and even America and Australia gathered at Millwall on Saturday 20th September to race 21.6 miles up the Thames to Ham, Richmond.
For our three crews all the weeks, days, hours of training had distilled down to this – one full day of fun, passion, blistered hands and bottoms – and giving it everything we had!
The whole event started on the 19th and an early morning kick-off for those towing our boats down south. Lots of coffee stops en route, all rounded off with a well-deserved pre-race crew dinner at The Anglers, in Teddington (a favoured watering hole).
Another very early start on race day, with a 6am coach pick up from the campsite to whisk us to the start point on time – even though our race time was 5 hours away!
Still, the unexpected jumping off a floating pontoon to wade thigh deep in the Thames to reach our boats on the pebbled beach made sure we were all wide awake and race ready.
After an hour of waiting on the water (strong bladders required!) our race numbers were called forward to the start and, just like that, we were off!
The sights and sounds of racing down the Thames, amongst so many different shapes, sizes and colour of boats, right through the heart of London, past iconic landmarks cannot be described in a way that does it justice. Suffice to say it is amazing!
Not that our crews had much time to take it all in. They were heads down, driving away with strong, steady, consistent strokes that saw them deliver some great times and positions in their categories.
Out of the 15 Mixed Celtic Longboat Crews entered, one of ours came 3rd and our other 6th – just excellent rowing.
And our ladies turned in a very respectable 3rd in class out of 5 Ladies Celtics.
Hard to think it’s now over for another year!
A big thanks goes out to the Great River Race organisers and all the safety and rescue boats involved in organising such an iconic event. And, of course, a huge thanks to everyone at Deganwy Rowers who were involved from organising, training, towing to racing (you know who you are), everyone else at Deganwy for managing with one boat and a big thank you to Conwy Rowers for lending us the 4th boat to leave behind!
Deganwy Rowers’ Roving Reporter – Kate
