Sunshine, Surprises, and a Sprint to the Finish
A stunning day for racing—what a contrast to last week’s freezing winds! Spirits were high, despite the fact that our crew had only rowed together as a full lineup the day before. But hey, why let small details like that get in the way of a good race?
Pre-race prep had one unexpected hurdle—Rita’s jacket zip broke, trapping her phone inside and making it impossible to ring the marshals to check timings. Roman came to the rescue and also provided an impromptu Garmin tutorial, teaching Rita how to swipe left to check the time rather than exiting the app entirely. Win-win all around on a sunny Sunday!
Thanks to the legendary punctuality of Inkeri, we arrived at the start line early—very early. Too early? Maybe. In hindsight, “just in time” would have saved us a long wait, but at least we had plenty of time to soak up the sun.
Then came the race. And wow. Rita, our cox, had us firing down the fairway, keeping us sharp and focused. As we powered through each bridge, her calls of “Push that bridge away!” had us digging deep and driving forward. The final 300 metres? Pure grit. Under the watchful eye of the QBC Captain (and an audience of OGs on the balcony), we emptied the tank, gave it everything, and crossed the line strong. The Captain even said we looked good—apparently, that’s not something he says often.
A fantastic effort from all, especially for our first-time racer! We came 30th out of 59 in the overall event with a very respectable time of 14:06.
Crew in The Lady Lindsay:
C – Rita Parekh-Patel
8 – Roman Kolcun
7 – Gary Mills
6 – David Thomas
5 – Tim Must
4 – Jennie Elsmore
3 – Jo Midgley
2 – Inkeri Abbotts
1 – Paola Correnti
Here’s to the next one! 🚣♀️💨
