Monday 25th September: Quick WattBike virtual ride around Zwift’s London route, weights and gig row

Quick WattBike virtual training ride around Zwifts London route which reminded me of last weekend as part of the Thames we rowed around in Westminster is displayed on the map where I cycled around virtually. Followed this with a strength session with weights and then by a 5km gig row on choppy seas as below: Cox: Wendy/Julie, 6: Jayne, 5: Julie, 4: Steve 3: Trevor, 2: Kevin, 1: Me

Friday 15th September 2023: Travel to London for the London Great River Race (GRR)

Steve picked me up with Sarah and we drove to London and met with some of the crew at a service station on the way. It took 4 hours to get to Exeter as the traffic was horrendous on A30. We decided to go on on the M5 and onto the A30/303 route but this was also heavy with traffic with lots of long hold ups. We carried onto the M3 and travelled to the scouts campsite near Ham in Richmond in South West London and arrived at 18.30 after starting the journey st 9.00 am. Put up the new tent ⛺️ and had a meal that was laid on by the Scouts which was really good. Had a few beers and welcomed the rest of the crew who had dropped off Morladron at Millwall docks the start of the race before hitting the sack

Tuesday 13th September 2023: PNPGC vigorous row

Last quick fast gig row before the London Great River Race. Cox: Wendy/Julie 6: Steve, 5: Ian (Guest from Bermuda), 4: Trevor, 3: Felix, 2: Alison, 1: Me. This was a fast row with a lot of training for buoy turns and race starts. Really nice row with Ian from Bermuda 🇧🇲 who rows in a gig club over there. Afterwards went for a drink in the Longboat with him and found out about the Regatta they run in Bermuda

Saturday 16th September: London Great River Race (GRR) Day

Up at 5.00 am and had a great breakfast prepared by the Scouts and got ready for the race and went to get the the coach to Millwall from the campsite in Richmond at 07.30 am and we arrived at the start at Millwall docks. We had to move our gig and get it ready for the race. The rest of the 🏴‍☠️ crew arrived and met our passenger Raf who replaced Alison but could not row but was our GoPro film 🎥 director.

Dressed for Action
Morladron Varthys ready for action
PNPGC Crew – Cox: James, 6: Jem, 5: Julie, 4: Steve, 3: Trevor, 2: Sarah, 1: Me
Some boats ready for GRR
Waiting for the start
Planning meeting with some of the PNPGC 🏴‍☠️ crew
PNPGC crew warming up in the docklands Thames
The buildings near the Millwall docklands and Canary wharf
Competitor boat trying to take us out before we start the race
Great shot of the boats in Millwall docks

Once in the water at Millwall docks we rowed against the tide up and down ready for our start time of 12.40. Lots of boats and as you see above we were nearly taken out by a boat that had a cox that should of gone to specsavers 🤓. We moved up efficiently with the tide just before the start time under instructions from our brilliant cox James. Here we go.

Moving along the Thames under a number of bridges
Wow 🤩 what a row under some of the iconic bridges on the Thames with great support from the crowds with the usual Oggy Oggy
Moving nicely past the Houses of Parliament and House of Lords

It was so exciting passing all the iconic buildings along the Thames and our passenger Raf was taking a lot of footage on the GoPro which is in the process of being edited. We were working hard with a even stroke rate and a well coordinated water taken by each rower by the cox James to keep our fluids up in a very hot 🥵 day at around 27C plus. Further shots below of various sections along the Thames.

Nice shot of our cox James before we went under an iconic bridge
Happily moving along the Thames
Looking 👀 good further down the Thames
Coming towards the finish in leafy Richmond
Finishing near Ham
Sweaty 🥵 Pirate 🏴‍☠️ Craig at finish. Red and Black war paint still intact
Happy 😆 to finish Arrrh we did it well under 3 hours at 2 hours 49 minutes
Thanking Al and Sue at finish line for these photos
But if a hold up on craining or boats which took a couple of hours
Waiting patiently for being lifted out so we could celebrate 🎉 as a team which was disappointing
Some of the Team 🎉 after the event both at the start and later onto London Cornish in Ricmond

So that was the fantastic event and challenge for me and the team. This adds to my other challenges I have done in London namely 8 London Marathons and Olympic distance Triathlon in my younger days. We ended the night early morning singing sea shanties. Up at 7.30 for a lovely breakfast at scout campsite and then back to Penzance which took around 6 hours and thanks to 🏴‍☠️🚣‍♀️ crewmate Steve for driving as my car is getting ready for repair

Monday 12th September 2023: PNPGC Great River Race training Session

Good training row for the Great River Race Row. Nice evening and reasonably calm seas. Also did some race starts and practiced several change over of crew with Alison and Sarah. Cox: Wendy, 6: Jemima, 5: Julie, 4: Steve, 3: Trevor, 2: Alison, 1: Me and Sarah as passenger and rowed in 5 and 2. Afterwards went to LongBoat for a crew discussion for Friday and Saturday.