For a few members of DRC the end of summer and evenings drawing in can mean only one thing: it is time for the Boston Marathon.
As usual the course this year started at Lincoln, from where increasing weary competitors had to wend their way along 50km (31 miles) of river to Boston, also getting out and carrying their boats over a lock at one point.
It is fair to say that neither Malcolm, Ian or I felt exactly prepared for such a long row this year, with only the thought of "at least we know what we're letting ourselves in for" providing some comfort. Malcolm entered the men's Novice 1x category and Ian and I found ourselves in the Intermediate 3 mixed 2x band as there weren't any other Novices.
Malcolm set off first, and despite his calls of "see you on the water", I felt sure that his strength, determination and competitiveness would make him a tough target to catch. Once on the course, it was great to see that there was the usual variety of competitors, both the very experienced and just the very determined. We can only have been rowing for about 5km before I heard shouting up ahead, but I couldn't tell what it was about and quick glances over my shoulder didn't suggest that there had been any steering problems or clashing of blades. A few minutes later we drew level with a single sculler who turned out to be simply shouting at himself and his boat in sheer frustration; he had a broken rigger, but was intent on completing the course nevertheless! Another single sculler apparently capsized in the early stages, but climbed back into his boat and carried on rowing until the end regardless (at least it was a sunny day, so hopefully he soon dried out).
As the kms drew on, there was still no sign of Malcom and around half way we were overtaken by one of the boats in our category, with the others following a few kms later. I don't think Ian will mind me saying that spirits in our boat were a little low at this point and I know my hands were becoming increasingly covered in electrical tape in an attempt to stop further blister expansion. Luckily our shore support (Katherine, Ian's wife, sister and brother in law) were in good voice, however, and as always it was very cheering to have them there on the bank at various points to encourage us...and tell us to hurry up and catch Malcolm!
With just 10km left we told ourselves that we just had to row the distance from Ramsholt to the clubhouse and spirits picked up a bit, despite having to negotiate rather a lot of weed in the river. Ian and I never did manage to catch Malcolm as he finished the course in the phenomenal time of 4hrs 16mis, but we did complete it in 4hrs 26mins (just a couple of mins off our previous record two years ago), so both DRC crews did themselves proud.
A big WELL DONE to Malcolm for his amazing achievement and also to Ian, who has now completed the course 5 times!!
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