Great River Race 2019

14 Sep Great River Race 2019

This is the third year that Clifton has done this event and by God this was hard. It’s a 21.6 mile row from London Docklands to Richmond which has been run since 1988.

Steve, Sean and Toby towed our beautiful Avona up to the Isle of Dogs on Friday to drop her off on the starting slipway overnight ready for the off on Saturday. After a dash back across London to drop the trailer at Richmond we headed for our hotel in Teddington. We had made good time so a few refreshments were perfectly in order. The towing gang were later joined by our other rowers Julie, Andy and Iain and also our pilot Brian with Ginette and supporters Lucy, Charlie and Jon. Fraser, our new Coxwain was flying back from Paris and so landed at the hotel at about 11:30pm.

Saturday saw an early start to get the coach across London back to the start line. Steve’s water bottle fell off the luggage rack and only mildly brained another rower. At the slipway it was the usual bedlam. We all strapped up our hands knowing the toll this distance would take on them. Lots of photo’s were taken and Avona was gently taken down the muddy slipway and launched at the perfect time of 12:14pm. Fraser took charge immediately and we knew we were in safe hands with the clubs youngest and newest Coxwain. We crossed the start line bang on time and we were away, immediately overtaking boats.

Fraser pushed us and kept us going through some very dark moments. He held the fast water towards the middle of the Thames and steered, pushed and persuaded us around boats all afternoon. We learned lots of new commands “Fabby Dabby” “Simmer down now” “Mr Cox, would you mind shimmying over a little for me please”.

This is a seriously long row. Every one of us gave everything. We overtook boats for the whole race ad had a few tussles with local gig rivals; some we won and alas some we lost. It was great to see our supports, Lucy, Charlie and Jon appear on various bridges and water banks. Lucy had the most appearances, Charlie has a fabulous banner for us and Toby and Jon is the loudest by far! Brian had a lovely time in the glorious sunshine in the Pilot seat, if not a little wet from the Thames wash in the first quarter of the race. By the end we were all exhausted. Having moored up at the White Swan in Richmond for customary drinks it was all we could do for at least half an hour to just sit down. Julie was very kindly looked after by Charlie and Jon albeit there was a tiniest suspicion that she just wanted a diet coke! Seriously though, everyone was so kind.

We had booked a crane to take Avona out on the other bank and after much faffage we managed to walk back to Teddington where a quick shower saw us back out for a fabulous evening talking about our days amazing adventure over great food and lovely wine. Will we do this again…………. just need to forget the pain first!! We finished 116th out of 304 craft. Considering it’s a handicapped event, that’s not bad. Time 2hr 46min 26sec. 24th Gig from 51.