The Great River Race 1997 On 27 September the Trireme Rowing Club, Ynys Mon, entered its first race.
When I suggested that we enter the Great River Race, a 22-mile marathon on the Thames from Richmond to Greenwich, responses ranged from doubtful to unprintable. The prospect of the post-race party swung it.
Our boat, a Pembroke longboat, was crewed by: Steve Jarrett, bow; Tom Charlton, 2; Tich Craddock, 3; myself, stroke; plus Geraint the obligatory passenger.
We boated from Richmond forty minutes after the starting cannon had given me kittens and loads of adrenalin, then awaited our handicap start time. Our start was somewhat hindered by the flotilla of waiting competitors loitering in the way: "Are we racing now?" called Steve from the bow, "Yes" we chorused. A scrunching sound followed - the bow foot-stretcher had sheared off! (big lad, our Steve). Undaunted we rowed on into our inaugural race.
I was surprised how many were really "giving it some" right from the start, charging past at 40-odd strokes a minute. "This is a marathon" I kept thinking, "Pace it". We rated a steady 24, concentrating on length and technique, with intermittent "pushes". Sure enough, further downstream we began overtaking those who had bolted off the start. We passed fours, skiffs, gigs and one Viking longship whilst being overtaken ourselves by faster craft, the most impressive of which were the dragonboats. To see and hear them bearing down drums beating and crews chanting, was awesome.
Geraint sang in Welsh to every crew we overtook, and steered a canny course. We shot 34 bridges, then we were into the long, wide, Limehouse Reach where we pushed for the Finish. Fighting off desperate attacks by a Solent galley we overtook one final victim at the line.
Starting position 176 we finished 181 in 2 hours 52 minutes - not bad for a debut. The party that night lived up to everyone's expectations. Curiously, nobody sat down ... I can't understand why.
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