Community / Burra and Lerwick rowers prepare for London race
The teams are competing in the Great River Race and rowing over 20 miles down the river Thames
TWO Shetland teams are heading to London this week to join 270 other boats in a 21.6 miles rowing race on the river Thames.
The race starts on Saturday lunchtime in Millwall, beside Canary Wharf in London, and ends in East Richmond.
The teams will row under around 20 bridges on the river, and past some of London’s most famous tourist attractions.
Andrew Anderson, who is rowing for the Lerwick team, said: “We’re all really looking forward to it. All going well we will all be able to manage it.
“It’ll be some experience rowing through the centre of London, going under 28 bridges and going past all the London landmarks.”
Each boat from Shetland will contain six rowers, a cox, and a passenger for safety.
The Lerwick team is made up of Howie Thomson, Elaine Jamieson, Ingrid Sandison, Dieter Glaser, Anne-Lise Anderson, Andrew Anderson, and Janet Leask.
The Burra rowers include Trish Reid, Alwyn Christie, Emma Jamieson, Lauren Smith, Peter Stewart, Marvin Inkster, Gary Laurenson, and Joanna Inkster.
It will be a family affair, with both teams including married couples, siblings, and cousins.
All the rowers have been engaging in rigorous training schedules throughout the summer to prepare for the event.
Anderson said: “It’s about building up the stamina and trying to get into a rhythm everyone is comfortable with. We’ve been doing 19-mile rows with the crew as much as possible.”
He added: “Our normal training is twice a week for an hour, but for this we’ve been doing much longer rows.
“We’ve gone up north, around Bressay, up to Dales Voe and back, and as far as Quarff.”
Meanwhile the Burra team have been doing long rows and setting up rowing machines in the Hamnavoe Hall for training sessions – though they have had issues with the weather.
Stewart explained: “The weather has not been kind to us with our long rows.
“We did an extended loop around Trondra one week, and then the next week we had to take the yoal to Lerwick because the waves were so strong.”
Another time the crew rowed the entire way around Burra Stewart said he was looking forward to seeing the landscape, but it was “steekit mist” the whole way.
The Lerwick yoal is named Scarfa, named after Scarfa Taing just off the Lerwick Boating Club. The Burra yoal Haddat will make the trip.
The teams have both seen support from plenty of Shetland businesses, with some sponsoring oars. The artwork on the yoals was completed by Artmachine, and other main sponsors include Ocean Kinetics, J.W. Grays, Scottish Sea Farms and Bolts Car Hire.
Stewart said: “Shetland always pulls out the stops for these events, there’s a lot of support from the local community and it’s always commendable.”
He added that the race has “invigorated” the community and hoped it would bring an interest back to Shetland rowing.
Anderson said: “We’ve been really appreciative of how generous the sponsors have been.
“The cost of transporting the yoals was more expensive than we expected, and we are really grateful for the support.”
Haddat, built by George Tait, has completed 25 rowing seasons in Shetland, and previously represented Burra in the Great River Race in 2002.
Other teams who have participate in the race include Nesting in 2010, and Trondra in 2011.
Stewart added: “Everybody is in good spirits, we’re all excited to see what it’s going to be like. It’ll be nothing like we’re used to here.
“It’ll be surreal going up through a city. We’re going to go and do our best, and it might plant the seed for bigger rowing events in the future.”
The event will be streamed live on BBC iPlayer on Saturday 21 September.
