Another victory as Great River Race record is broken!

It is as close to chaos as you dare for a competition, but the Great River Race up the Thames from Docklands near Greenwich to Ham 21.6 miles up river is a massive celebration of river rowing.

My mighty crew, the ORIO Speedmasters were once again lined up at the start in our ‘summer special’, the Basque country trainera , with one target in mind: the record over the course. And, we did it! Beating the previous time by 23 seconds, clocking a time as we cross the finish line of 02 hours 02 minutes and 51 seconds. That was close, but you can only beat what is there to be beaten and we succeeded.

The crew had to navigate past all manner of boats on the river keeping a fantastic pace and steady stroke rate despite the distractions of my cries from the helm at boats in danger of colliding with us as we sped along.

It is a heck of a sight seeing all manner of rowing boats on the river at the same time. Everything from tiny skiffs to dragon boats. Our impressive trainera, Tknika proved to be as speedy as we hoped on the day with conditions.

It was a tremendous achievement for the crew who have now amassed a record on the Thames, set a new target for rowing on the English Channel and broken a 26 year old record on Loch Ness. Not bad for a summer’s work.

We would not be celebrating without the efforts of a lot of people, not least the crew themselves and the Orio Boat Club in Catalonia. Special mention also must go to our support crew of timekeepers, photographers and transport mules, the organisers of the Great River Race and our host boat house at Tamesis. The full list is too long to reel off here. But thanks everyone.

Next, two of us will be heading off to Catalonia to return the boat to its owners at Orio Boat Club.