Student Stories
GCBC 24 Hour Row
24 Hours, 200 km
Grey College Boat Club member Tom Fox rowed over 200 km to try and raise funds for a new College boat
GCBC enters a number of rowing events throughout the academic year. At York regatta last year, our boat broke within the first few strokes. We lost. This result – and a couple of pints in Grey bar – got me thinking about how to raise money for a new boat. Ambitious targets require ambitious challenges, I decided to attempt a 24-hour row on an erg! I set up a crowdfunding page on Hubbub and spent the summer months preparing. There was a lot involved: logo design, writing my blog and sponsorship letters, promotion and seeking sponsors to name a few, and, most importantly, training. Months went by, I watched as the total practise distance climbed as well as the donations. 9:00 am, Saturday 10th October: the first stroke was taken of many over the next 24 hours. It went on, erg after erg, smashing through 10 km pieces, always maintaining a good pace, aiming for 200 km. 10 hours in I hit the crucial six-figure milestone of 100,000 m, it felt fantastic( necessary celebratory selfie followed!). 3 hours until the deadline, the final 10 km before the big 200 km arrived- dubbed,‘ THE GLORY ERG’! This was a major highlight. With the length of Durham racecourse( 750 m) left I started to increase the pace. Sprinting the last 500 m to one of my favourite songs:‘ Can’ t Hold Us’ by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis was incredible. Even now, I can hardly believe that after 200 km I could still do that! It was a special moment and cheers abounded. I wasn’ t done yet, and with the clock counting down, GCBC members arrived to cheer me through the last minutes. I picked up the pace, adrenaline surging through my body, and everyone was shouting encouragement. Physically, I gave it all I could. The last stroke took me
to 209,330 m- I finished the 24 hours in style! We raised an incredible £ 7000 towards a new men’ s eight boat. The search was on! Due to the budget, a high quality second-hand boat could be obtained. I trawled the rowing sales databases daily, without fail, from October to April. We needed an elusive boat: correct weight, not too old and high quality. One night in the Easter holiday, an email changed everything. I was emailed about the sale of a 2006 Vespoli 8‘ Tom James’, a world renowned manufacturer, from King’ s School Chester. Within a week, I travelled to Chester to meet the seller and see the boat. It was a beautiful sunny day when I arrived at their boathouse. I knew immediately – it was perfect for us. After a quick inspection, we shook hands and I secured the boat for £ 8000( luckily I just beat another party to it!). I returned home that day buzzing! The first week of the summer term, the boat journeyed from Chester to its new home in Durham. Seeing‘ Tom James’ outside the GCBC boathouse, a week before York Spring regatta, almost exactly one year on, made me so happy. A crazy idea had become a brilliant reality.
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