An Evening Soiree

Fast forward eight weeks (27 Oct) and we were back together for the second time, in Chiswick at Mortlake Anglian and Alpha Rowing Club, for GB Row Challenge & MAABC meet-up.

An evening social was planned to celebrate this year’s GB Row Challenge (GBRC). We were excited to hear the stories from this year’s crews and take the opportunity to ask as many questions as possible!

When we arrived at the venue, standing in all her glory was GB Challenger, one of three boats UECRC own and one of the possible boats we could use for our row next year.

Naturally, we took the opportunity to take a few selfies and assess the newly fitted sliding seats – which to our delight were lovely and smooth....let’s hope they stay that way once the salt water has gotten to them!

We were soon ushered into the clubhouse as the evening started. In addition to the crews who had taken part this year – some of whom hadn’t seen each other since they set off from Tower Bridge - were also those were thinking of taking part in the coming years.

GBRC Co-Founders, Jim Bastin and Will de Laszlo, kicked off with background on the challenge and how it came to be, before handing over to Kat Bruce, a 2022 crew member, to share her experience and scientific data from NatureMetrics and Portsmouth University.

It was a great insight into the kind of things to expect at sea but also helpful to know what worked and what didn’t during preparation. Other crew members added their perspectives and experiences which helped to shape our expectations.

Their enthusiasm was contagious.

It was a great evening, connecting two communities of like-minded (slightly mad) people who love spending significant amounts of time traveling backwards across water bodies!

We’re excited to read the full report from Portsmouth University (Jan 2023) which will go into further depth about the data collected from the crews this year. What makes this challenge so worthwhile is the wider purpose, which is so much more than just rowing. The data we'll collect next year will help scientists understand how our seas are changing by comparing the two data sets.

We came away even more excited for what is to come!