Saturday 7th September saw three teams from Tamar & Tavy Gig Club in their Cornish Pilot Gigs, Belinda O’Flynn, Tamar & Ginette at the annual Great London River Race. A junior team of under 14’s; a ladies super vets squad and a men’s crew, aged 17 to 75! Having trained hard over preceding months, coping with last minute injuries, drafting in of a replacement coxswain for the ladies, not to mention the logistics of just getting there, all were up, out of their tents for the 0630 start to a very long and exciting day. For over 20 miles the 319 boats entered, race from Milwall to Richmond, navigating the numerous number of bridges across the river. The weather, much improved from last year with a mixture of sun & cloud and ambient temperature, saw a strong head wind and tide providing for a demanding race.
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LONDON RIVER RACE REPORT
Saturday 7th September saw three teams from Tamar & Tavy Gig Club in their Cornish Pilot Gigs, Belinda O’Flynn, Tamar & Ginette at the annual Great London River Race. A junior team of under 14’s; a ladies super vets squad and a men’s crew, aged 17 to 75! Having trained hard over preceding months, coping with last minute injuries, drafting in of a replacement coxswain for the ladies, not to mention the logistics of just getting there, all were up, out of their tents for the 0630 start to a very long and exciting day. For over 20 miles the 319 boats entered, race from Milwall to Richmond, navigating the numerous number of bridges across the river. The weather, much improved from last year with a mixture of sun & cloud and ambient temperature, saw a strong head wind and tide providing for a demanding race.
Getting on the water was the primary challenge and the help rendered to others, by the Tamar men’s crew, made them last on the water and a 6 minute adjustment to their final time. At the start some support boats hindered the participants among them our ladies in Ginette who also had a collision with a dragon boat – that craft suffered a broken oar as a result of their actions. Despite this Ginette got a flying start but later on in the race she was undercut by a large whaler at one of the bridges and gigs they had been in front of overtook them and they never quite regained their placing. Tamar had an ongoing battle with 2 other gigs, ‘Water Witch’ and ‘Cream of Cornwall’ throughout the race. Belinda O’Flynn with our indomitable juniors, made steady progress through the myriad of boats; blisters and periods of heat proved to be their immediate rivals.
Tamar & Tavy Juniors crew
Tamar crossed the line at the 3 hour mark; Ginette was a few minutes later and the juniors came in at the 4 hour point. Notwithstanding the bumps, blisters, sore backs and tiredness, all achieved something incredible and no doubt had much to talk about in The Swan, where a well earned feed and a cleansing ale/lemonade was had. A brilliant effort by everyone involved; rowers, towers, supporters and parents.