Great River Race - Team Rowsea did the Club Proud
Published 01:10 on 20 Sep 2025
Crew; Carol Wealthy, Jeanie Pelling, Kay Wadham, Lesley Charlton, Mark Ransome, Michaela Chandler
Support Crew; Keith Dickerson, Les Chandler
Saturday 20 September: After a full English breakfast (with chips!) at 4.30am, we were on the coach at 6am for the 50 minute journey across London to Millwall Slipway. Once checked in, the scrutineers started their pre-race checks of the boats while we all made new friends in the 40 minute queue for the loos. When the PA system called our number, Rowsea was transported across the car park on a wooden trolley, lifted on to the plastic pontoon and the slide towards the Thames began and then ground to a halt! Pandemonium ensued. With people and boats going nowhere we were told to lift Rowsea off the pontoon and carry her through the deep mud to get her on to the water. The rising tide and super strong current made keeping boats in their designated holding areas challenging but Carol kept her nerve, with clear instructions and by the time we were called to make our way to the start line we were race ready. With the current beneath us and smiles on our faces we were off! After all the months of preparation it was surreal that we were finally competing with hundreds of other boats in the Great River Race. As we were categorised with the slower boats, which set off first, I think all of us believed we'd be travelling backwards through the pack from the get-go but to our surprise, we weren't. We held our own for the first hour and a half, even overtaking some of our fellow competitors. The exhilaration of passing under world famous bridges and past iconic landmarks was amazing. To top it all off, Les and Keith (our stupendous support crew) and a selection of family and friends kept popping up at random vantage points to cheer us on. This, coupled with the encouragement from strangers lining the route, was just the best feeling in the world. A big thank you to Kinetico for sponsoring our t-shirts. The neon orange made us so easy for people to spot. It's a shame the BBC coverage that was planned didn't come to fruition but the link to the live tracking meant people who couldn't attend were able to follow our progress and send us those positive vibes. We settled into our rhythm as we passed through our capital city, dodging the Uber Ferries and floating tree trunks. Then the bigger rowing boats started appearing in the distance and when they came for us they came thick and fast! Carol, cool as a cucumber, held her course proving that we may be small but we are mighty. The cheers as we approached the finish gave us the burst of energy we needed and when we crossed the line we were rowing strong and looking good!
Our main objective had been to get from A to B. Never in our wildest dreams did we expect to do SO well. Our finish time of 3 hours 28 minutes and 25 seconds for the 21.6 mile course put us in the top 75% of all boats in the race that day and when you apply the handicap system we were 139th out of 277, putting us EXACTLY in the middle of the pack. An incredible achievement when you think of the size and experience of some of the international crews we were competing against. We certainly exceeded our expectations, doing ourselves and our Club proud and putting Seafarers firmly on the National rowing map.
Local Press acknowledge Seafarers success. Find the article here.
Last updated 10:37 on 6 October 2025