The London to Paris Rowing Challenge

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Sunday 9th May 2010

It was in 1999 that Jock Wishart and Malcolm Knight led a team of rowers who successfully broke the record for rowing from Westminster Bridge to the Eiffel Tower and this was the inspiration behind the London 2 Paris Rowing Challenge.

This exacting trial which is rowed down the Thames from Big Ben at Westminster Bridge, across the Channel and up the Seine to Pont D’Iena near the Eiffel Tower, a distance of approximately 420 nautical miles which is equivalent to 485 statute miles.

Each team will consist of twelve oarsmen with up to seven in the boat at any one time made up of six rowers and a coxswain.  The boats are matched Thames Watermen's Cutters with fixed seats and are suitable for the challenges of rowing in the open sea.

Seven members of Medway Towns Rowing Club, along with five others from Gravesend Rowing Club, have formed a crew and are training assiduously in order to meet the demands of the task. Sponsorship from their efforts will go to a local hospice.

The seven Medway members are

 Sam Deane, Darren Simmons, Miriam Batten, Graham Semark, Graham Mitchelhill, Robin Philpot, Jim Powell

This year, the 2010 London 2 Paris Rowing Challenge will begin on the morning of Sunday 9th May. The scheduled finish time is approximately 8am on the morning of Saturday 15th May.

The key factor that dictates these dates is the need to row the tidal section of the Seine, from Le Havre to Rouen, with the tide and in daylight.

The route for the row breaks down into three main stages:

  • From Westminster Bridge, down the Thames and around the North Foreland to Ramsgate

  • From Ramsgate, across the Channel to Le Havre

  • From Le Havre, up the Seine to Rouen where the river ceases to be tidal before continuing on through six locks to the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

The London 2 Paris Rowing Challenge is a unique and highly demanding endurance event contested over a route between two of the world's greatest cities and it will be good to see Medway's colours crossing the finishing line in Paris on the 15th May.

Thanks for this page are due to the official event website from where the majority of the information was gathered.

For further details see  www.london2parisrowing.com