The intrepid womens team of 8 gig-rowers “Vision Round Britain” crew left Mylor harbour this morning on their charity circumnavigation sail (yes SAIL not, row!). They’re all gig rowers from Flushing & Mylor and Helford gig clubs – (ok, all bar one who’s a motocross specialist but has been in a gig once or twice and promises to do more if and when she returns!)
The VRB girls left Mylor pretty much exactly on time and and enjoying the lovely NW winds and sunshine. Bon voyage and be sure to check back soon for regular updates! The on-board tracker is active and will provide hourly position reports.
A dockside full of family, friends and supporters with both cheers and tears waved them off with a flotilla of yachts and gigs seeing them safely to the Manacles Bell buoy off Coverack. Initial reports are that there are a few green faces on board but not to worry, there’s a long way to go and it’s all for such a good cause – which reminds me, don’t forget why they’re going round…http://www.justgiving.com/crasac-vision/donate
After the huge success of the GR20(20 Gig Clubs, 2 Days and 180 miles) the idea came up for the GR300(300 kilometers ish, 4 days and all the 27 Gig Clubs in Cornwall).
First Weekend in November 2010 Four Days Thursday Nov 4th -- Sunday Nov 7th.
The Cost
All the money goes towards costs incurred to run the event and any left over money goes to charity. To see the GR20 accounts from last year click here.
The total cost for the event is over £6,000, last year Jeremy and I bank rolled the event but this is not possible with the growth of the event and so the King Harry Ferry Company have kindly offered to bank roll it this year and without their support it would not be possible.
Full four days:£95 (Includes: 3 nights accommodation (Inc bed, sheets & pillow), Breakfast (Porridge, toast and cereal), Evening meal (Pasta feast with pudding and custard, pos pub meal sat night), Transport for your bag each day, Support vehicle & T-Shirt)
Just the weekend (For Colin & his lady friends):£75 (Includes: 2 nights accommodation (Fri & Sat & inc bed, sheets & pillow), Breakfast (Porridge, toast and cereal), Evening meal (Pasta feast with pudding and custard, pos pub meal sat night), Transport for your bag each day, Support vehicle, T-Shirt & Transport from Lancton to Penzance on Sat am for you and your bike)
PLEASE TRY AND DO THE WHOLE EVENT AND NOT JUST THE WEEKEND
Accommodation
Included in your entry fee is accommodation in the following Youth Hostels as well as breakfast and dinner. This is not 5star luxury but at the end of the day most people don’t care to much where they sleep. Where possibles couples will be put in beds/rooms together. In Padstow we are going to have to top up beds with B&B accommodation.
Thursday :: Gollant YH
Friday :: Penzance YH
Saturday :: Padstow YH
The Route
In light of feedback from last year and the extra 2 days we have backed of on the hills and distances. We have avoided the nasty hills and chosen the faster roads to help you keep your average speed up. Please note the final route has yet to be confirmed as we have some more research to do but approximate distances will be:
Day 1: Launcton to Gallant 55 miles (4.5 hrs at 12mph av) Day 2: Gallant to Penzance 57 miles (4.5 hrs at 12mph av) Day 3: Penzance to Padstow 70 (6 hrs at 12mph av) Day 4: Padstow to Launcton 48 miles (4 hrs at 12mph av)
Total: 232 Miles in 4 Days (373 k)
The Itinerary
Please note this is a draft and details may change closer to the time.
Thursday
0800: Registration in Launceston (Note: Parking for the week will be pre arranged at a cost of £10 per car) Each rider is allowed one bag clearly marked with their name and this can be loaded into the support vehicle. 0900: Depart Launceston 1500 onwards: Arrive Gollant 1930: Supper Friday
0900: Depart Gollant 1500 onwards: Arrive Penzance 1800: Registration in Launcestonfor weekend riders 1830: Bus and bike trailer depart Launceston 1930: Bus arrives Penzance 2000: Supper
Saturday
0800: Depart Penzance 1530: Rendezvous Wadebridge and join Ugandan children for ride down Camel trail to Padstow 1630: Arrive Padstow for Fish & Chips and team photo 1800: Supper 1900: Ugandan Children’s Choir Concert at Padstow Church 2030: Drinks in Padstow
Sunday
0900: Depart Padstow 1400: Arrive Launceston for Sunday Roast
The Pearl of Africa Children’s Choir Ltd is a UK charity whose main purposes are to further education and the relief of poverty in Uganda, especially by supporting the Molly and Paul Childcare Foundation, an organisation established in 1983 to build homes and schools for orphaned and destitute children in Kampala and Masaka districts of Uganda. There are now 7 schools with over 2600 pupils.
Children from these schools sing and dance in The Pearl of Africa Children’s Choir. They visit the UK to raise awareness and the desperately required funds to help sustain and improve the standard of education, healthcare and living conditions in their schools and will be singing in Padstow on the Saturday night. We will be looking for a minimum sponsorship pledge of £100 per rider, you will get a sponsorship form when you register.
If all goes to plan the choir will be joining all the riders in Wadebridge and riding into Padstow with us. After supper and a shower around 300 people (including all the riders) will head to Padstow Church to see the choir perform before a few beers in town.
The event will be capped at 80 riders.
Register
If you are interested in taking part then please download and complete the the registration form below and send it in with a cheque. Spaces are limited so register early.
Celia, one of the Gig Rower Team has volunteered to to the admin for this years event and a big thank you to her for getting involved and helping. Any questions email: mail@gigrower.co.uk
Vision Round Britain is a three week expedition in August 2010 and the crew of GigRowing girls will all be onboard in Scilly next week. Sailing around the coast of Britain on a Catamaran, with a crew of 8 women, to raise awareness and much needed funds for the Vision Project, an initiative of the Cornwall Rape & Sexual Abuse Centre (CRASAC). This project is an outreach programme which operates throughout the schools in Cornwall to advise and raise awareness of the problems of rape and sexual abuse and inform young people about where they can get help if they need it. Cornish led, this project has the potential to go Nationwide. ALL funds raised go direct to the charity, the expedition is entirely self-funded.
How can you get involved?
OPTION 1: 100 hundreds
Now that we have most of the basic details in place, we would like to launch the 100 hundreds. That’s 100 donations of £100 each. This is aimed at small businesses, families, groups of friends and any individuals who would like to support The Vision Project. Get involved here …
OPTION 2: Donate
Go to the website and donate some cash, see button top right hand corner. Donate here …
OPTION 3: Text
To donate £3 Text 70007 with the word “vision.” There’s no excuse not to …
OPTION 4: Come Aboard
The boat and all her crew are racing in Scilly and will be moored in the harbour, if anyone wants to come aboard or have a chat text Lynn on: 07921 125044
This weekend over 40 GigRowers took part in GR20, a charity bike ride that took riders along Cornwall’s south coast past 20 Gig Clubs & 140 miles to raise money for Shelterbox.
The ride started on Saturday at Fowey as riders set off in freezing rain, a westerly gale and ice on the side of the road -- there was a little stunned silence as on the way to Fowey at Truro there was a hail white-out. Conditions failed to improve as riders passed Par, Charlestown, Mevagissey, Gorran, Roseland, Truro, Devoran, Mylor, Penryn before stopping for lunch in Falmouth. The event was always supposed to provide a challenge and that it did as the hilly route and harsh conditions took their toll on all the riders.
The afternoon took riders past Helford, Coverack, Cadgwith and up onto the exposed Lizard where riders battled with the gale force winds to get to Lizard Youth Hostel, cake & tea. The climbs around Mevagissey, Caerhays, Mylor, Coverack and Cadgwith were particularly notable -- steep, brutal and twisting and turning. Climbing School Lane in Coverack at the end of the day really wasn’t what I wanted to do at the time especially as there was still Cadwith to come.
As if the climbs weren’t enough, the windy blasting “fire-hose” of ice and rain experienced in Falmouth due to a particularly dark and foreboding storm cloud was something that sent the riders scuttling for shelter (I ended up in a bus stop but was thoroughly soaked by then). The weather wasn’t finished with us and the final run across the Lizard brought gale force sidewinds that are always a challenge!
After a hot shower, a great dinner and a few beers at the ‘Top House’ (8 pints of Rattler for Uncle Andy) morale was back up as riders tucked into bed in the storm lashed hostel.
Storm force 10 winds put paid to the planned second day route and so after a early morning reroute the riders were bused to a point between St Ives and Zennor and then rode back to Lizard via Mounts Bay and Porthleven (well, very near Porthleven) for a Sunday Roast before heading home for a hot bath. The 30+ mph tail wind gave all a fast and exciting finish into the carpark at Lizard.
A big well done to all riders, I’m off for a bath now but add a comment to this post with your version of the weekend.
:: Stats ::
Day 1 (Fowey-Lizard) : 78 miles (125km), total climbing 5714ft (1742m). Day 2 alternative route : 32 miles (51km), total climbing 2181ft (664m). Totals : 110 miles (176km), climb 7895ft (2406m). Day 2 full route 52.4 miles -- (Trevor and Daniel -- who were able to hit the day fresh having not done day 1).
If you have any pics please send them to toby@gigrower.co.uk so I can add them to this post.
Plannning for the next GR-ide is already under way!
A BIG Thank You to:
Garrick for getting out of bed at 4am and driving the bike trailer across Cornwall Dave the Bus for getting us there Kim for her brillllliant chili Hutch for his world class coleslaw Esther for her tasty crumble, bread & butter and cleaning x Jeremy, without all his help the whole thing would have gone horribly wrong, cheers J Ali’s Mom and Sally for the mountain of cake Tommy from Shlterbox for helping out over the weekend Polly his girlfriend for providing tea and cake on King Harry Neil for proving that little people really can do great things Greg for his porridge The Riders, for getting involved and raising so much cash
Trevor Richards and Daniel Oates completed the full route on Day 2 into the teeth of storm force winds, well done chaps, here is the email from Trevor and some pics.
”Big head wind all the way, completed the full course as per the map 54.2 miles at an average speed of 9 mph and went over the finish line in Hayle at 4p.m. Thanks for all the hard work you and your team have put in over a long period of time and I am pleased to confirm The Handstand appeal and the Coverack Gig Club Junior section will benefit 50/50 from the £750.00 raised. Daniel raised money for Cancer, so along with what other money that was raised this weekend and the improved fitness levels it has got to be a win win situation. ”
Ok the date is set and we have booked the whole of Lizard Youth Hostel for the weekend of November 7th & 8th.
Quiet lanes from Charlesown and down a steep hill into Pentewan
We have set up a dedicated page ‘GR20′ (See above) for the event which has all the info you need, click here for more info … Accommodation will be allocated on a first come first served basis so get in QUICK !
The intrepid womens team of 8 gig-rowers “Vision Round Britain” crew left Mylor harbour this morning on their charity circumnavigation sail (yes SAIL not, row!). They’re all gig rowers from Flushing & Mylor and Helford gig clubs – (ok, all bar one who’s a motocross specialist but has been in a gig once or twice and promises to do more if and when she returns!)
Vision Round Britain
Across The Bay Race :: New Date Aug 13th
Gig rowers charity round Britain sail underway…
GR300 :: Get your bike out
Race Invite :: Ilfracombe Regatta
Featured Gig Club :: Weymouth Rowing Club
Helford Regatta 2010 :: Report, Results, Pics
Lundy Row 2010 :: Report
Helford Event This Sunday :: Information
Paignton Gig Club :: Invite
Across The Bay Race :: Cancelled
Cadgwith Event :: 31st July
Devoran Regatta :: Results
Truro River Rowing Club :: Gig Re-Launch
Charlestown Event :: CANCELLED
Charlestown :: Gig Loan Request
