{"id":3572,"date":"2025-09-24T09:08:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-24T09:08:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.nbrowingclub.com\/wp\/?p=3572"},"modified":"2025-09-24T09:08:16","modified_gmt":"2025-09-24T09:08:16","slug":"great-river-race-september-20th-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.nbrowingclub.com\/wp\/2025\/09\/24\/great-river-race-september-20th-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Great River Race September 20th 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u2026words by your on the water reporter Duncan McKay, and more photos and videos from the crews on Flickr here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

St Ayles Skiff Adventure at the Great River Race 2025<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If rowing around Craigleith in a headwind feels daft, then towing a St Ayles skiff 400 miles all the way to London for 21 miles on the Thames surely deserves its own category of lunacy. But on the 20th of September, that\u2019s exactly what two North Berwick crews did: two skiffs, each skiff having four rowers, one cox and, in a nod to the London river taxis, one passenger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pre-Launch \u2013 \u201cFlying Boats galore\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boats were craned in or launched down a slipway at Richmond on the Friday and towed downstream overnight to the start. Our own convenor looked on nervously wondering if the club\u2019s insurance covered damage from being dropped from a large height. Packing those carbs via a BBQ and an early night ready for a 6am coach ride across the city to the start beckoned for all crews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\"pre<\/a>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Launch \u2013 \u201cNot the Bass Rock\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The starting line in Docklands looked less like a rowing race and more like an aquatic carnival, albeit with a bit of mudlarking and wrestling as crews negotiated launching before the rising tide meant they had to swim to the boats. A flotilla including Gigs, Whalers, Skerries, Yoals and Celtic Longboats, and even something that looked like a floating sofa, waited for the start lashed together midstream to avoid going over the start line too soon. Our starting coxes Ann and Clive assured us it would be \u201cjust like a normal club row, only with landmarks instead of gannets.\u201d True enough, except the gannets don\u2019t usually wave at you from Tower Bridge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\"tower<\/a>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\"sirens<\/a>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Mid-Race \u2013 \u201cThe Thames is Long. Very Long.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once past Westminster, conversation in the boats dried up. Even our resident font of all Thames facts and figures (some of it very suspect) Dave H in bow seat was reduced to grunts somewhere around Battersea. We fuelled ourselves on jelly babies, wine gums, and the occasional reminder that \u201cat least it\u2019s flatter than going round the North Dog of the Lamb.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n