Itchenor Rowers at La Traversée de Paris

Published 10:16 on 19 Sep 2024

Itchenor members Sarah Fisk, Sophie Pudney, Clare Hantrais, Lucy Clifford Bowles and Sarah Heber rowed 28k along the Seine on Sunday as part of the Traversée de Paris event in which over 200 boats rowed from Boulogne-Billancourt around Notre Dame,on the Isle de la Cité and back.

We were in Iccanore but unbeknown to us only 2 celtic long boats had registered, ourselves and our friends from Bosham!  In order to complete the course by 10.30am when the Seine was to be open to other traffic the organizers let us start 45 minutes early at 6.30am in the dark!

What a magical experience we had, just the 2 boats rowing past the Eiffel Tower at sun rise, past the Tuileries, Le Louvre and Grand Palais arriving at Notre Dame at 8.30am when the other boats started to catch us up, including the Itchenor boys crew who whizzed past us in second place!

We arrived back at the start three and half hours later in glorious sun shine to a celebratory bowl of pasta and bottle vin blanc.

It was such a unique experience that we will never forget, having the Seine to ourselves was magical. We are very grateful to the club for the loan of Iccanore and wish her and her crew well as she travels up to London this weekend for the Great River Race. 

Last updated 10:17 on 19 September 2024