Please click the link below for a copy of the latest news from the River Tamar!
Tamar and Tavy Gig Club enjoyed a very successful day on the river on Saturday 9th August competing in the Tamar Challenge hosted by Cotehele Quay Gig Club. They entered three boats of mixed ages; two ladies and one men’s crew into the 9 mile (one hour) endurance race which started in Saltash and ended at Cotehele Quay. The race was handicapped with
Conditions on the river were mixed, with a strong wind making the going very tough on some sections, but providing a welcome tail wind on others. The race was handicapped, with the slowest boats starting first and everyone else trying to overtake them before the finis, and prizes awarded for first past the post and fastest time. Both Ladies crews were in the first group to start, with crews from Rame and Rock. The boats had a tussle up to the first corner, but Tamar & Tavy Ladies A: Claire Luxton, Sandra Anstey, Katie Turner, Lynn Renton, Sarah Gall and Julie Rendle, managed to pull into the lead as they approached Cargreen. Some great coxing from Mark Turner and some strong rowing saw them holding off Rock as they past Weir Quay and they then managed to maintain their lead all the way up to the finish line! Unbelievable!
The B crew, coxed by Becky Masters with Karen Auborn, Nicky Evans, Carolyn Dawe, Helen Samson-Hill, Jennie Smith and Beth Gay also had a fantastic race. They fought for position and rowed very strongly, finishing in 7th place out of the 13 crews competing and holding their own amongst the competition. The men’s crew: Rob Dawe, Simon Luke, Jake Rendle, Ian King, Peter Clarke and John Rogers were coxed by Chris Dill. They started 11 minutes after the first boats, which meant that they had their work cut out as they fought their way past other crews on their way up the river. They proved their worth though, finishing in 12th place, but with the 5th fastest time of the day. Brilliant!
The official results are:
Ladies A 1st (1 hour 6 minutes 44 seconds, 8th)
Ladies B 7th (1 hour 12 minutes, 4 seconds, 12th)
Men 12th (1 hour, 3 minutes, 22 seconds, 5th)
For the full results please click here – Tamar Challenge Results 2014
Huge congratulations go to all teams competing, and especially to the Ladies A, some fantastic results, proving that the hard work and dedication in training really does pay off. Huge thanks also to all the supporters and to the crew who rowed Belinda back to Weir Quay after the racing. Thanks in particular to Mike Vosper who provided safety boat cover and saved us from having to row the race length twice by towing Tamar to Saltash and back from Cotehele, and then coming back to tow Belinda the final stretch of the river. You certainly providing some very welcome relief after a hard day at the oars!
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The social rowing season is going well, with some lovely MMR and Thursday evening adventures. These sessions are inclusive of everyone, and designed to let us enjoy our beautiful river without having to worry about training. Thursday evenings often include a stop for refreshments of some kind, and Monday mornings are seeing some exploratory rows to parts of the Tamar and Tavy that we don’t often get to see. One lucky crew even managed to spot the seal up near Pentillie!
Here are a few photos from the season so far:
On the 3rd of August, Tamar & Tavy Gig Club entered an all boys crew into the gruelling, annual under 16’s championship held at Newquay on the 3rd August, along with 25 other clubs. The crew members were Ben Milligan, Ethan Lamerton, Cameron McKay, Will Gardner, Ben Luke, and Elliott Overnell who was the youngest at only 11 yrs old. Coxed by their coach Tricia Stewart, they rowed magnificently!
The Newquay championship is always a very tough race and the sea conditions can be very challenging with large swells. None of the boys had ever rowed on the sea before. They are a relatively new and inexperienced crew who were competing together for the first time. They did exceptionally well, and after 3 heats had qualified for the final of the plate race.
A very large wave hit them on the start line of the final which caused a thole pin to break and get stuck, the boys slowly edged their way at the back of the pack with only 5 out of the six lads able to row. The pin wasn’t freed and replaced until nearly half way to the first marker buoy which left them a lot of ground to make up. Sheer guts and determination saw them digging deep and rowing their hearts out. One by one they managed to overtake four other gigs to finish in 2nd place, with only six seconds between the winning crew and themselves. The courage, determination and guts they showed after such an unlucky start was just a reflexion of what an amazing crew they were to fight all the way to the finishing line after having rowed four very tough races throughout the day. Huge congratulations to them all!
