On Thursday morning the daytime rowers enjoyed their first visit to another club in over 2 years when seven members made the short trip to City of Sunderland Rowing Club for a row at the invitation of Ken Gardner who is also a member of DARC.
Sunderland kindly provided the use of two coxless quads and safety cover for the visiting party who were joined by Sunderland’s recreational rowers for their regular outing, while Charlotte who will soon be returning to Van Mildert Boat Club handled the tricky water conditions with aplomb in her single..
Although the tidal waters generated more waves than our usual stretch of the river the weather couldn’t have been better and the opportunity of a 12km scull to the Glass Centre and back was well worth the effort, with coffee and cakes to follow.
The club provides the base for the South Hylton round of the Long Distance Sculling Series on October 30th. Until 2018 Sunderland also hosted the Wear Tour as a stable boat recreational event which included the LDS course plus the row downstream as far as the Glass Centre and back.
South Hylton LDS
The pandemic has certainly had an impact on opportunities for recreational rowing, with no Great Tyne Row since September 2019. Prior to that the last of our once regular exchange visits to Tees RC was in August 2019, and the Sunday League was also last contested in 2019.
We are very grateful to all at Sunderland RC for making us so welcome, and Sunderland members are already looking forward to making a return visit once the repairs to New Elvet Bridge are complete, fewer road closures are in effect and we are able to offer more than 1km of river.
Ken would be pleased to arrange another outing to Sunderland for anyone who would like to make a visit on weekdays.
Coaches and rowers wanting to row recreationally or competitively are also welcome to join DARC’s daytime group who meet on Mondays and Thursdays at 9am, or drop by for coffee at 11am.