{mosimage}Well, that’s one cat well and truly out of the bag now! And it’s completely terrifying – I’m definitely not set up for a life in the media spotlight!

Last Friday, Lin & I launched our challenge to the media at the Southampton Boat Show. A small but select bunch turned up and we were able to catch up with plenty more titles later on at the Saltwater PR ‘No Strings’ party – a boat show legend. It was also really nice to bump into other fellow rowers, Jock Wishart, Jan Meek and Roz Savage, with whom we share a sponsor – Simrad.

We also had the opportunity to meet up with one of this year’s entries, Rowgirls.com. I’ve known Sally Kettle for a while now, since before her first crossing, and have the utmost admiration for her achievements and attitude. Sally and the team spent loads of time answering our (sometimes stupid!) questions without wincing, and gave us full run of the boat to get some PR shots for our own campaign.

So after a long day at the show you’d think we’d do like normal people and put our feet up for the weekend. But no… gluttons for punishment that we are, it was up at sparrow o’clock on Saturday to get going on our first outing in an ocean rowing boat, the Trafalgar Great River Race.

Organising this event, our first fundraiser, has been a logistical nightmare. Without the help of those kind and long suffering individuals named at the end of this diary entry, Lin and I would easily have been considering jumping off Tower Bridge rather than rowing under it!

The Great River Race runs over 22 miles from Richmond to Greenwich and is a completely fantastic spectacle. With around 300 boats and 2,000 competitors, the Thames is brought alive with action as all the different vessels make their way down stream, right through the heart of London.

We had kindly been lent the Woodvale Ocean Pairs prototype boat by Woodvale Events, with the help of Stephane Portes who is using it in preparation for his own race this year. Nicky Ware and Jo Sally joined us to make up numbers for the day and couldn’t have fitted in better. If we ever consider rowing as a four, they’re top of the list. It must have been the team pee in the bushes that broke the ice!!

It was also great to see another 3 ocean rowing boats competing, including the famous ‘Carpe Diem’ who moored up next to us for a while.

As one of the slowest boats in the race, we set off 9th, just after 2.30pm. With our pink be-decked boat (and no rudder!) lumbering against the tide, it took a while for Lin and I to get her up to speed. But once there, we settled into a nice rhythm and were able to enjoy the moment.

We had great support all the way down the course – from other women’s teams who shouted encouragement to the ‘pink ladies’, many friends from the Dragon Boat Racing world, and plenty of men’s teams who seemed rather taken with Jo’s dinky pigtails.

Reaching the finish after 4 hours and 14 minutes was a little emotional, and I’d have to say that the experience has taught us plenty about these boats. While we’ve quite naturally questioned a few things, our resolve to complete the challenge has not changed one iota.

The worst part of the day was yet to come though and after managing to find the crane beyond the finish, we were lucky not to get swept past with the tide. Having moored next to a very friendly and helpful Dutch group, we found out that the tide was too low for the crane to reach down and that we were going to have to wait around 4 hours to get our boat off the water.

This alone was not so much of a problem, but the Harbour Master trying to bring his large boat alongside ours was a fairly desperate moment. Having asked him to stand off, he ignored us and we were very lucky not to get crushed between his boat and the barge we were moored to. My high esteem for Harbour Masters is now somewhat lower as a result of this foolish and completely avoidable mistake, although they have taken responsibility. But that leaves us (well, Lin) with the job of co-ordinating them paying for repairs to the gunwhales and paintwork, having explained the situation to Woodvale.

But it’s all good preparation for the months ahead and when we collapsed into bed at 2am on Sunday, there was a distinct feeling of satisfaction and a job well done. At least we have a few weeks before our next event!

And last but by no means least – here’s the role of honour for the last few days:

• Ned Skelton – As chief tow-master and all round cheerer upper, we genuinely could not have raced without all your help.
• Jo McKelvey – Endless enthusiasm and a newly found talent as media scout and fundraiser.
• Liam Griesel – Your cheering meant the world to us and made it all worthwhile.
• Janet Holden – Fundraising queen, so pleased you liked the picture.
• Nicky Titchener – Fundraising fairy, waving her magic wand in Devon.
• Nicky Ware & Jo Sally – Fantastic to have the honour of racing with you, peeing with you, and sharing your high spirits all the way!!
• Woodvale Events – Sorry about the scratches on the boat but they aren’t too serious and at least I didn’t hit the Harbour Master and get arrested (though it was a close run thing!). Thanks for lending us the boat for the day.
• Jock Wishart – Have oars, will travel!
• Stephane Portes – Thanks for helping with the boat and good luck for November.
• Eric and Keith – Thanks for all your help at Gallions Point Marina and I’m sure we’ll see you again soon.
• The Friendly Dutch Teams – Complete with crane they saved our butts at the finish.

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