April 24 Combined - Flipbook - Page 47
Hayling Herald
Good showing in tough
Three Rivers season opener
By Tim Pointer from Langstone Pilot Gig
Club
EARLY March saw three Langstone
crews and their supporters set out from
Hayling to compete in the annual Three
Rivers Race at Saltash.
The race consisted of some six miles,
starting and indeed finishing (some 50
minutes, or so, later) in the shadow of
Brunel’s Royal Albert Bridge, built in
1859 to carry the railway into Cornwall.
The crews set off in heats down, or
maybe up, the River Tamar, around some
tricky marks and onwards into the River Tavy before returning up, (or maybe
down) the Tamar again and then turning
into the River Lynher and back to the
Tamar and onwards to the finish in the
shadow of the Bridge.
The Three Rivers Race is seen as the
opening of the Cornish Pilot Gig Rowing
season and is an early indicator of how
crews are preparing for the World Championships held in late April on the Isles of
Scilly.
More than 1,000 competitors, in some
180 crews, took part.
They came from around the gig rowing
world, including previous world championship winning crews, as well as those
experiencing racing for the first time.
It is unique in that the top prize goes
to the club whose female and male crew
with the best overall time when combined.
Langstone Pilot Gig Club ladies and
men’s crews in Heart of Hayling were
entered into the combined event and finished a creditable 33rd of some 90 crews.
Eimear O’Callaghan, Gig Club Ladies
Captain, said: ‘It was a great weekend
away for the crews and is testament to our
winter training programme that we are
able to compete at this level.
‘We will be back in home waters and
gyms working hard to build on this result
Eimear O’Callaghan, Fran Lansley and Evita Bird who raced in Star of Northney at Saltash
in the World Championships’
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