This
year turned out to be one of many firsts in London for the rowers - first time fielding
an all ladies team,
first Great River Race for Is and Sam, and
first time we've towed the boats from Ham to the start at near
Wapping.
RWYC Rowers with pennants prior to the start of the GRR
Stamina is everything in the GRR for the
rowers and their supporters: jumping on the Eurostar to cheer us on
(thanks
Barbara!) ,dancing til midnight on Friday, up at 6am to catch the 6.30 shuttle
bus to the start, stealing
mugs
of tea from fellow team members, using muscles you'd rather be saving than
using to unload your
own
and any other boats, using all your feminine wiles to claim or steal a trolley
to move the boats from one
car
park to another, remembering to leave time to queue for the toilets or
being brazen enough to find a
bush,
taping your hands and everyone else’s, hauling the boats by hand down the muddy
slipway, drinking
enough
water but not too much as the next loo is 3 hours away, 4 hours after arriving
at start finally getting
in
the boat on the water, remembering to listen to your patient cox while he/she
manoeuvres around other
boats,
landing stages, support vessels and gets into the start area in one piece
mentally and physically.
When
the start came (no Barry cannon though) the ladies set out in style in Elen
after a bit of a collision of
oars
with Macsen (not anyone’s fault I'm sure Martin). Macsen soon overhauled Elen
and cruised through
the
field last seen by Elen at the aptly named Waterloo Bridge. Tower Bridge, St
Pauls, The Houses of
Parliament
and the London Eye flew by but not quickly enough for Elen. A couple of yellow metal buoys
(quote
of the day "what is that?") threatened to scupper the crew but
undaunted Elen ploughed on skilfully
coxed
in turns by Angie and Debbie. Coxing sometimes
involves giving clear instruction to other boats in close
situ
to your own, Debbie proved herself adept at clarifying the rules on more than
one occasion which
saved
our bacon in Elen at least twice.
The ladies aboard Elen: Is, Bethan, Sarah, Angie & Debbie
By
the halfway stage spirits were still high, helped by shouts of encouragement
from onlookers and other boats.
Is,
Elin and Bethan alternated between the 1 and 2 seats and chief photography/waving
and smiling position.
Each
crew had a different strategy (strategy? what's that?) to swopping crew into
different positions - all members
did in Elen at various times either all at one time or two then two, in Macsen
Brian and Malcolm electedto
stay in
their seats while Meg and Martin coxed and Trevor and Sam swopped in
the bow. Not sure whichis
the best method
but nobody fell out. After passing the crowds at Richmond the
final four of the twentyeight
bridges seemed the hardest
but we made it hear the finishing cannon in one
piece.
Macsen and the men's crew in the mix
Re
towing boats from Ham to Wapping - discovered three things - The big red C
stands for Congestion Charges, Harrods
is not on the way to Wapping,
Rotherhythe Tunnel is only just wide enough for a Long Boat.
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