Seeking a gentle warm-up for the North Berwick regatta, an intrepid NBRC contingent went south of the border, down Newcastle way on the 17th of September to take part in the second Great Tyne row. This is, as the name implies, a row along the river Tyne starting in rural surroundings to the west of Newcastle, passing through Newcastle itself and ending up at Tynemouth. Both skiffs went down accompanied by a newcomer, Speedwell, a Teifi double skiff belonging to a syndicate of club members and making her second outing under her new ownership (the first having been a brief practice the day before).
Arriving late due to getting stuck behind two coachloads of Japanese tourists in a loo queue during a comfort stop enroute, the need to move the cars and trailer to the finishing line before starting off necessitated the intrepid towers having to sprint, well jog, along part of the river bank in order to get back to the boats before the start of the race, hardly the ideal start to an endurance event.
Nevertheless, the start line was reached in time and the North Berwick boats set off on the gruelling 25km (just over 8 times round the Craig!) course accompanied by the two other St. Ayles Skiffs competing in the event, the local boat Grace of Gosforth and the Wee Michael from Newhaven. Weather-wise, the conditions were good, mostly dry and warm but not too warm. The only issue was the wind which had been forecast to waft us down the river to the finish but which in practice seemed to be at our backs more often than not.
As the race progressed, the crack crew in the St. Baldred found themselves locked in battle with the Wee Michael while the Skiff John B adopted a more sedate pace, gradually leaving Grace behind and trading remarks with the faster sliding seat boats as they slid by. A real pleasurable part of the event was the chance to view the many Newcastle bridges and riverside sights from the river itself. The latter part of the course was very different from our normal rowing venues passing as it did through the highly industrialised Port of Tyne. Navigating past huge ferries and car transporters, we were grateful that they stayed firmly moored to the quayside.
After roughly two and a quarter hours, the sea appeared and the finishing line was crossed. All that remained was a 10 minute row across some very choppy water (which must have caused the lighter boats in the race some concern though the St. Ayles of course took these conditions in their stride), beach the boat and start comparing blisters. The organisers had laid on a barbecue but sadly the rain which had threatened more and more as the race progressed finally arrived in force and the post-row wind down had to be somewhat truncated.
Congratulations are due to the Wee Michael who finally triumphed over St, Baldred to win the pennant for the fastest St. Ayles, and to the crew of Speedwell who were awarded the Harry Clasper award for their achievement in competing in the race with a crew largely comprising of people who had sculled for the first time the day before.
The full results can be found at http://www.britishrowing.org/sites/default/files/news_files/32216/Results.pdf
Finally, a big thanks to the organisers for such a well run event. We will certainly be back next year!