Castle to Crane “Five Miles From Home” is an international sporting event which, because of its “dispersed” format, was able to go ahead on 7, 8 and 9 May 2021 despite the ongoing pandemic. Rather than travelling to a single venue, participants undertake a Five Mile time trial on their home waters. The event, organised by the Scottish Coastal Rowing Association, attracted entries from all around the world. The Albany Rowing Club raced a Curragh on the Hudson in New York, the Living Boat Trust raced in the St Ayles skiff from the Franklyn River in Tasmania, Italians stood up to row the race from Venice and Como. Participants also rowed their home waters in Spain, Netherlands, Germany, Ireland, England and Wales.
Covid restrictions in Scotland meant that adult crew rowing was not possible for the race, so Scottish participation in this international event was led by young people in St Ayles skiffs, and individual rowers or single household groups in small boats such as the picnic class.
Multiple junior crews, many of them undertaking their first ever rowing competition, did a great job in representing the communities of Ullapool, Avoch, Burghead, Broughty Ferry and North Berwick in St Ayles skiffs. Their clubs were rightly proud of them, although with a pang of jealousy that they were getting on the water when adults were not! Well done to all our young teams. Ullapool had laid down the best times amongst the juniors, but the other teams will be motivated to pull alongside them for the remaining races of the series.
Scottish clubs who managed to get adults out in small boats were Ullapool (again!), Royal West, Wormit, Broughty Ferry and North Berwick. The boats used included a picnic class catamaran, a 12foot yacht tender, and some old time coxed double sculls on the Tay. Some of the clubs who have already entered the series but were not able to get out in their chosen boats yet, still completed the “land challenge” by doing the five miles on foot. Let’s hope that these clubs, and many more, can take part in the next two legs of the “Five Miles from Home” series on the water over the weekends of 4-6 June and 9-11 July.
St Ayles skiffs feature heavily among the entries and results. Members of the Down Coastal Rowing Association from Sketric, Ardglass and Dundrum all took part, with particularly fast times from the Sketrick crews who took advantage of the 9 knot currents in the Strangford narrows to boost their speed. The Dutch crews were prevented by covid social distancing obligations by rowing in their normal configurations but were able to row with rowers rather than the usual four. Don’t be complacent when you are looking at their times! They will go quite a bit faster once they have four rowers!
Rowers will recall that the premier trophy for Castle to Crane is the “Median Trophy” and that it is awarded at the discretion of the organisers to the crew that comes in the middle of the fleet. For the first time it was decided to award it to two crews, because they were close together in many ways. The winners, from WivGigs Rowing Club and from Rowhedge Coastal Rowing Club, both row in Harkers Yard Gigs, and look across the River Colne at each other in the County of Essex, England. Other classes of rowing boat featuring in the fleet included Cornish Pilot Gigs, Cornish Skiffs (from the Cornwall Rowing Association), Irish Coastal Rowing Federation One Designs (“Universal Boats”), and Celtic Long Boats (of Welsh Sea Rowing). The Italian classes taking part were the Jole (four rowers, with two oars each, and a cox), Gozzi (similar set up to a St Ayles, four oars with one oar each and a cox) and the VIP (two rowers, both standing). The Spanish entries from Navigato Santander used the magnificent “Trainera” which have 13 rowers, one steerer with a sweep and go like an express train.
Feedback was very positive with many crews saying it was the first time they had competed for 15 months or more and what a great way it was to motivate rowers to get back in the swing of things. It is a great way back into competition, and crews about to start back rowing will be made very welcome by the next two races in the Five Miles From Home Series. Ocean to City Race (Cork) are organising their event on 4-6 June, and Welsh Sea Rowing are organising the final leg on 9-11 July. Prizes for the series are decided over two legs, so joining in may bring prizes as well as the more holistic rewards of getting the crews back together!
Enter the Five Miles from Home series by clicking on this link. Entries close the Saturday before each event.
Full Castle to Crane Results for fixed seat boats are found at this link.