 La
Coupe des Dames 2005 was a race never to be forgotten.
Goring Gap, affectionately referred to in the race card as
Henley, achieved its first international scalp - we actually
beat a crew! One of the most exciting races ever.... we
managed to overtake a crew at 10km. Obviously celebrations
were in order and our superb French hosts from Angers
Nautique didn't let us down. Exhausted by the excitement of
the race (coxing requires a lot of shouting!) and light
headed through excess red wine it was no surprise when a
couple of young lycra clad French girls thrust their contact
details into my hand - "Come to Paris and row". Obviously
Goring Gap was gaining an enviable reputation on the
international rowing scene…. easily defeated, but great fun
at the after race parties!
The weekend in Angers seemed just a blur, but amongst the
numerous scribbled phone numbers, was the note form Anne-Laure
of the Société Nautique de la Basse-Seine in Paris
inviting Goring to "Les Fondateurs", a 4km head race on the
river Seine at the end of September. And so our Paris
adventure was conceived.
 Encouraged
by our recent success, we decided to embark on a gruelling
training regime throughout the summer in preparation for the
Paris race. Okay, in truth we thought about rowing together
on the odd occasion and at the end of August realised that
we'd better start training in earnest. The girls made use of
the Oratory's impressive octuple (eight people sculling)
and, for the first time in the club's international
campaign, the guys decided that a weekend in Paris was too
good to miss and formed a ‘highly performance’ squad. To
fast track the crews to success the services of a top
Wallingford 'finishing' coach was employed to fine tune our
athletes to peak performance. The training went surprisingly
well - not a single metatarsal injury - with both crews out
on the river at least twice a week pushing their craft to
record speeds.
With all the long hours of training, crew selection is often
a controversial and heartbreaking time. Not at GGBC, we used
the 'can you make it?' selection method. The first 16
members who put down a deposit get to row. We just about
managed two crews...
The weekend of our adventure came upon us all too quickly,
but thanks to some expert organisation we all managed to
catch the Eurostar to central Paris and arrived, slightly
worse for wear (practicing the post race celebrations), to
be met by our French hosts. |
Our accommodation, provided free, was fitting to our rowing
status on the fourth floor of the Stade Municipal, an
historic sports arena built for the 1922 Olympic games. Not
quite in pristine condition, but a place we grew fonder of
as the weekend progressed, although four flights of stairs
did cause us some apprehension with some of the crew having
to rest between floors!
Race day was upon us and we strolled down to the boathouse
with a little trepidation - had our preparation been
adequate, what would the competition be like, where was the
nearest patisserie? Nervously we entered the impressive
Basse Seine clubhouse - and were welcomed with open arms.
Breakfast quickly supplied and our hosts giving us a
breakdown of the timetable of events: racing in the
afternoon (the river is closed to all other craft for two
hours) and then a toga party in the evening. The faces of
our crews fell in dismay, where would we get togas from at
such short notice?
Back to the rowing - we were invited to try out our boats
and get accustomed to the reach. Which is when we met one of
France's premier coaches and our very good friend - Jacques.
Through his expert, if last minute, coaching we were
transformed from a ramshackle crew to an elite rowing
machine. Who can forget those immortal words.... "slow
up zee slide, fast in zee water"? Somewhat disturbing we
rowed the course twice during this outing. We usually go
home for a kip and two days rest before getting back into a
boat during our normal training, yet we were down to row in
just a few hours.
It's hard to explain the combination of nerves, adrenalin
and fear that greets a crew as they push off from the
landing stage, but this is multiplied when you discover that
your attractive French cox doesn't speak any English!
Fortunately the guys improvised a command structure within
the boat - someone in the middle of the boat yells a lot! We
were rowing okay – Jacques’ magic was working well - but
with the officials urging us to hurry up, the 4Km to the
start line was more than just a warm up. No waiting around,
we just turned and we were off. A rolling start, we built up
the pressure to firm as we crossed the start line and rowed
as if our lives depended on it. The next 16mins were some of
the proudest in GGBC’s history. The crew rowed incredibly
well and gave a 110% effort throughout the course. We even
managed a convincing push over the last 500m. A cheer from
the girls’ boat at 2Km really spurred us on. Exhausted we
paddled to the landing stage, knowing that we'd done
ourselves, our club and our country proud against some stiff
opposition.
And the girls in their octuple…..a superb row too, crossing
the line in great style and attracting lots of attention
from the massed bank side crowds.
 A
fantastic achievement for both crews topped only by trophies
at the post race presentation. We'd actually won some
silverware - WOW! It was a great adventure, our hosts from
Basse Seine were incredible, and we had a very memorable
weekend. Oh, and the toga party? Bed linen and improvised
laurel leaf headwear - we had a great evening celebrating
our 'win' but that’s another story.
Fancy joining a GGBC crew for this years Paris adventure?
Come along and start training now. After all we've got our
international reputation to uphold.
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