by Sarah Maya Gill
What an excellent event to introduce me to the world of competitive rowing! I totally immersed myself for the day in hundreds of boats from all over the country and visitors from abroad in boats of a whole host of shapes and sizes.
With a two and a half month run up of experience to ‘race day’ and only a few of those with the crew I would be rowing with across London, I had no idea what to expect on the day. It was a brilliant way to meet rowers from our neighbouring club, Newhaven, and share this wonderful experience with them.
My nerves surfaced during the week leading up to the race, but on my walk from the tube station to the starting point at Millwall Slipway, they calmed, making the journey with other rowers exciting. I then looked forward to the day ahead. We shared our levels of experience, where we’d come from, experiences of the race and people in common that we knew. Although it was a bit of a wait before we could even get down to the boats, there was such a buzzed yet calm and friendly energy among everyone. After a rather muddy clamber over the banks of the Thames to get to our gig and set off into the starting line-up, the energy levels really kicked in and you got a sense of which crews were really going to be pushing for a good finish time. There was a bit of a battle fighting against the current to keep our position in the line-up and having to remain alert whilst bobbing about among the many boats around us, suddenly we had started the race without much warning, and we were off! I’d say from a rowers position you noticed and could appreciate the 28 bridges we went under more than specific landmarks along the river’s path, and for me, I felt it was the count down of bridges that made the finish line feel more and more achievable.
I had shared my live location with my brother, and he was also tracking us via the website, I had no idea where and if I would even see him spectating with some more of my family, but there he was! By chance I looked up and saw him peering over the bridge railings taking pictures of us, waving and cheering us on.
With about half an hour of the race left, our wonderful cox began to ramp us up gradually to get us through the last few bridges and to the finish line. It was at this point I really felt the energy levels start to drift but remained determined to keep the tempo up for a strong finish. What a brilliant team we had, pushing hard right to the end, trying for a sub 3hr race time.
In the end we completed the course in a time of 3hrs 1 minute, placing 142 out of 229 boats. The chaos of boats in the water from the start of the race mirrored at the end, and the incredible energy among crews remained.
Many wonderful memories from the day and so grateful to the coxes and club members for organising the training sessions, and logistics on the day. My first Great River Race but definitely not my last!
Thank you to Sarah for sharing this wonderful experience.
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