The Dart, 21st September

22nd September, 2024

Fortunately for the Mx Mas 4x- crew of Ant, Katrina, Lorna and Mark, The Met Office proffered bright sunshine for their row on The Dart, so wet-weather gear, whilst taken, was left unused. Saturday morning was less busy from the normal hubbub of a race day, with about 30 boats taking part. This was mainly due to it being a re-scheduled race from the one cancelled in April. 30% of all entrants were from Shiplake, who were dominant at the top end of the results list; was the reason rowing prowess or the fact that they were racing in special home tie-dyed team t-shirts?

The River Dart was reasonably calm, with only a couple of tricky sections (luckily the ‘home-made’ bailers were not needed). Mark performed a sterling job of steering the 15km course (13.5km in reality), with Ant setting the pace at stroke, and Lorna and Katrina the ‘powerhouses!’ in the middle. Whilst beaten by the only other Mx Mas 4x- crew, who were in a younger age category, being ‘first-past-the-post’ is not whole the point of rowing this race – it’s more about enjoying the challenge, which the crew certainly did.

All went swimmingly until they were a stone’s throw from Bath, on the A39, near Marksbury. The wheel hub almost sheered off of Avon County’s trailer, which Mark was towing, leaving it unusable. After several hours of shenanigans: police involvement, flat batteries, changing trailers, etc, the four rowers eventually made it home.

A serious point to note here is the practice of having another car following a trailer. The situation would have been much, much worse if there wasn’t another car on hand to notice the issue and to provide support.