Cakeland crew race at Runcorn

The Cakeland crew (from left): Vix, Diana, Heather, Peri, Katie and Maia

Heather Turner reports on the third Explore event, hosted by Runcorn RC

The Cakeland crew had a fantastic time, despite coming second (last!) in every race. And between races, in the sunshine, and on the long journey there and back, we enjoyed putting the world to rights while eating red velvet cake.

In the absence of Explore co-ordinator Lizzie Wyatt, Vix Gibson stepped up to lead the six enthusiastic rowers. The remaining, predominantly rookie, team members were Diana Strong, Katie Shackles, Maia Webb and Peri Collins and me. Two of us had never raced before and three only started rowing in March (but have since attended loads of club sessions). A race of 300m? From the bridge back to here? That’s no distance! It’ll be easy, we thought.

The legs that had turned to jelly and the lack of breath to call three cheers by the end of each mad 300m dash made a mockery of this notion. Thankfully, fielding a team of six gave us some respite, as we rotated and took turns to sit in the cox’s seat.

The day wasn’t without its comical moments, including getting settled with all the seats back to front. No sooner had we worked out how to get into the boat from a pontoon and started to get used to the idea of rowing with dry feet, we had to work out how to turn and return to the pontoon to get the seats in the right way.

There were 14 teams, which meant we raced four times. Liverpool Victorious (Liverpool Victoria) and Paddlington (Hollingworth) won our first two races. We weren’t sure whether to believe Vix, who was coxing, when she said we were catching up with Paddlington, until a neutral observer verified her claim.

After some sunbathing, cake eating and chatting, we raced When Crew Become One (Trentham) and Mere Cats (Windermere), again coming second, but in our final race we were really, really close. After a slow start (we need to practice), we narrowed the gap all the way to the finish line.

Runcorn Rowing Club were great hosts – the day was well organised, friendly, supportive and encouraging. All the other competitors were chatty and cheerful, relaxed and positive. We all had a wonderful time and highly, highly recommend Explore rowing to anyone thinking of having a go.