A glorious day for a successful and inclusive Explore boat event organised by MBC Masters rowers Emma Drinkwater and James Holden. Words: Emma Drinkwater
📸Danny. Blue Doors
After a very wet winter with so much rain that rowing on the river stopped for three weeks, you could not have asked for a better day in February for the second Molesey Marathon. The sun was shining and the water calm.
This glorious winter’s day saw 25 crews of 125 people from 8 clubs spending their morning on the water completing a time trial of over 6.7km, from just past the club house to Sunbury lock (turning at the infamous 'blue doors') and back again.
From as far Clapton and Broxbourne, the coxed Explore quads cheerfully took off in waves from 7.30am, until just gone midday. There were no more than 4 boats in a wave, which meant we could load and moor the crews safely and seamlessly. The volunteers on the forecourt did a great job in keeping disruption at the landing stage to a minimum.
The time trials themselves were highly competitive with crews putting in some fantastic times to beat. Most crews were mixed, but we also had 3 women’s crews, 4 open (mens) crews and our first adaptive crew competing. A big shout out to Lucy Wilson from Guildford Rowing Club, and Robert Nesbitt from MBC.
📸Picture left: Sunrise by Justine Ray. Middle picture: by Victoria of Emma and James. Picture Right: 🥇Winners of the mixed category: MBC crew Mesh Beymen (cox), Justine Ray, Stephen James, Julia Morris (stroke) and Heidi Morris (bow).
A glorious day enjoyed by all. 📸's by MBC Explore group
📸A collection of photo's shared by members of the Explore Group: Danny, Julia, Ernst, Justine & Mesh. Thank you, you did a great job of capturing the cheerful mood.
They crews celebrated in the Regatta Room with some coffee and home baked goodies and raised nearly £200 for the Red Cross relief in Turkey and Syria in donations for cakes.
We would like to thank our team of hardworking volunteers for making the day run so smoothly, and also to those who lent us boats and blades to allow so many crews to compete: Goring Gap Boat Club with their four Charles Stanley Swifts, Kingston with their two Falcons and David Reed at Falcon itself with a shiny nearly new Falcon quad – thank you so much.
Feedback from crews has been so lovely and positive, and we very much look forward to seeing as many if not more crews back next year.
Roll on 18th February 2024!
Statistics and fascinating facts!
Winning time (unadjusted) 2023
26:21 Warren MBC Open Category
32:34 Beymen MBC Mixed Category (pictured above)
37:31 Ben Lea RC Women’s Category
Winning time (adjusted – 30 second handicap per female rower) 2023
26:21 Warren MBC Open Category
30:49 Beymen MBC Mixed Category
35:11 Ben Lea RC Women’s Category
Oldest competitor was 79, youngest competitor was 16
Most crews entered: Goring Gap Boat Club with six crews
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