VALIANT EFFORT FROM SNELLY'S HEROES
ON A BRIGHT AND CLEAR Saturday in September, a group of athletic young men climbed into their boat and rowed like Vikings in the Stratford upon Avon annual rowing Regatta. Then it was our turn...
Corin Ashby, Jim Robbins, Steve Young and Alan Coates made up the 44 rowing team “Snelly’s Heroes” – aiming to raise money for a worthy cause at this year’s Stratford Rowing Club Novice’s Regatta.
On reflection three training sessions were probably not enough. This proved the case in the first race when the team got off to a comical start.
“With memorable comments from our Cox, such as ‘This is my first time at this,’ and ‘Which string do I pull to turn left?’ ringing in our ears, we successfully ran aground on the banks of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre and completed the slowest race time of the entire day,” explained Alan.
Undeterred by this initial set back, the team rowed hard and fast in the second race, finishing with a cool dip in the river Avon after capsizing the boat just before the finish line. To add insult to injury, the team was squarely beaten by a bunch of pirates in the final race as well.
“All in all, I think we’d better stick to dry land,” commented Alan. “However, we did the best we could. We rowed as well as we could, and we raised more than £400 for the Mark Snell Fund (a family trust fund set up in memory of a former colleague). Not to mention spending a great day out in beautiful Stratford, and a little time in the Avon!”
Thanks to everybody who came to cheer us on, and to all those that sponsored our efforts.
