OLYMPIC rower Frederic Kowal took the men’s singles record - and line honours - in the Gorey to Carteret rowing race last Saturday.
In less than ideal conditions (and following one false start) he took a hugely impressive 13 minutes off the existing record to finish in 2 hr 14 min 22 sec.
One other record was broken on the day, by Guernsey’s top fours crew, Geo Marine.
They took the mixed title in 2 hr 6 min 55 sec.
In all 41 boats came to the start line.
A traditional French dorey and a Guernsey designed Grantez fours hull rowed by an Irish team from the Cobh Rowing Club were the only fixed seat boats to be seen.
Initially good times looked to be on the cards as the race began with slight sea conditions and light northerly cross winds which helped to propel the first three single rowers to beat the existing record.
And, apart from the single’s class, Jersey rowers took top positions in all categories that they entered.
The Romerils’ ladies pairs’ team of Chrissie Pallot and Frankie Le Quelenec completed the double having won the Sark to Jersey the previous weekend in record time.
They, like most teams, made good time to the L’Ecreviere buoy, the ‘halfway’ mark, but from there on it was all uphill as they had to contend with the turning tide sweeping in from the south against light northerly winds.
The Paula Wells/Cindy Fletcher combination were narrowly beaten into third place as they battled up the Carteret estuary against a local French pair.
‘It was some battle,’ said Paula.
‘We had seen them briefly on the start line as we were fighting our way through the wash from other crews’ guard boats, but it wasn’t until we entered the estuary that they suddenly reappeared and then we had this almighty battle for the finish’.
The 20-strong group of men’s pairs and fours (plus two mixed fours who elected to start in the second group) set off 20 minutes later in pursuit of the first fleet.
The start line was somewhat chaotic.
With less than a minute to the start Jersey’s top fours boats found themselves on the wrong side of the drifting start boat.
The Goldcrest team made a successful but near suicidal dash across the front of the fleet, while the Crusade team squeezed into a non-existent gap under the shadow of the start boat on an ever-shortening start line.
From the beginning the Crusade Laboratories team powered off the line into the lead ahead of Goldcrest and Jersey Postal, positions they held to the finish.
All three teams had a guest rower, while Crusade and Postal each had a rower recovering from injuries.
Postal reeled in Goldcrest before the halfway mark only to drop behind again as they reached the mark, and shortly afterwards they were down one rower, as he aggravated a foot injury picked up on the Itex walk.
Nevertheless they still returned a good time to finish just over a minute behind Goldcrest who, in turn, crossed the line just over a minute behind Crusade.
Goldcrest, with the assistance of single’s rower Rob Cassin, and with the ability of their boat to surf on their guard boat’s wake, were fast closing down on the Crusade team before the end of the race and, if the course had been a little longer, they may well have caught them up.
However, it was not to be, and despite steering a course too far to the north, the Crusaders gritted their collective teeth and clung on to their win.
The result also went as expected in the men’s pairs, although no records were broken.
The Rob McCallister/Tim Le Gallais Sark to Jersey winning pairing watched helplessly, early on, as they found themselves relinquishing the lead to John Searson/Paul Le Gros and then a Guernsey pair as they approached the halfway stage.
Immediately, however, they dug in to regain and extend their lead to a comfortable two-minute margin which they held to the finish.
The Sue Cubbons’ captained Kinnel ladies’ fours team also completed the double.
‘I was well pleased by the girls’ performance, especially given their maturity,’ said cox Peter Cubbons.
‘Two of the team are over fifty.
It’s their first full season rowing sliding seat, and we have had 80 years combined, of bad habits from fixed seat rowing to correct’.
They had planned for a quick time to the turn buoy to catch the turn of tide and were well pleased to arrive two minutes early, but as with so many of the teams, any chance of a record went as conditions turned from light waves to rough.
Meanwhile the Irish fours crew, from Cobh Rowing Club, had prepared the day before by taking an hour and a half to row from St Helier to Gorey.
They enjoyed the race and, hopefully, will be back at some stage in the future for yet another mammoth row.
The new captain of the Carteret Rowing Club, Jean Noël, extended his thanks to all Islanders who helped insupplying safety boat cover and the Harbour authorities for their assistance.
Article posted on 28th July, 2004 - 12.00am
Most Commented: