Tom Bishop was competing once again this weekend in the Silver Skiff 11 kilometre race on the River Po in Turin. After the slight disappointment of coming second to the American Jim Dietz in the Head of the Charles in October, Tom exacted his revenge, beating Dietz by over a minute and a half, even after incurring a 20 second penalty. Tom won the Masters I category and Dietz was eased into third place by Tom’s sometime doubles partner, Rod Stewart of Upper Thames RC.
The results for the Masters I category may be found at http://www.silverskiff.org/download/arrivals/2024/silverskiff/S2024_MMI.pdf.
A note from Tom
The river was flowing unusually quickly and turbulent, like the tideway! Made times a little slower. One bridge was partly blocked by driftwood meaning we had to go through a centre arch where it was quite challenging. In the race I got stuck briefly in the arch with two slower scullers. There were a lot of hold-ups and clashes at the back end of the race where I had to start number 683, overtaking around 25 scullers over the course. I managed to collect 20 secs penalty in my efforts to pass slower people, not sure where in particular.
They advertise that you get a model skiff once you win three times. This was my fourth win – I gently enquired as to the skiff. The reply was that the delivery was lost, come back next year!
Anyway it is a great fun race and I recommend it as one to do. The local clubs are very welcoming and you race against scullers from across Europe and the world.
