The rowers, all members of Oundle School Boat Club (OSBC), took turns to row for the full 24 hours, each clocking-up between 15-25km over the time period.
The rowers not only set themselves a fundraising target of £3000, which they had smashed within a few hours of the event, they also challenged themselves to row 343km, the exact distance of London to Paris.
“Having a distance target is really necessary on such a long row” said Sixth Former Charlotte Sullivan, the organiser of the event. “We were able to celebrate milestones throughout the row which really helped motivation, particularly during the early hours of the morning which were really tough”.
Their choice to row the distance to Paris was to celebrate the success of the GB Rowing Team at the 2024 Paris Olympics. An OSBC rowing coach was present for the full 24 hours logging each rowers’ time and distance and helping to calculate the stroke rate that the rowers needed to achieve to get to Paris.Charlotte was delighted with how well the 20 strong team supported one another, “the Boat House pulled together brilliantly during the event and people really helped eachother. If you weren’t rowing, you cheered-on someone else who was”, she said.
Charlotte was also impressed that some teachers showed up to row alongside students to help with morale, “we had one teacher show up at midnight to row with us and another, at 1am. That was really appreciated. They donated too which was even better!”.
The event was completely student-led with rowers Charlotte Taylor and Maisie Shields supporting Charlotte with organisation and sponsorship. The girls were delighted to attract sponsorship from Avril Phillips Funeral Directors, Dine Catering, Obsession Partywear, Medpage Easylink and the Northamptonshire T-shirt Company.
Charlotte decided that the row would be in aid of Lakeland’s Hospice because of her family’s connection to the place. Her mother, Ruth, is a MaSh Dance professional dancer for the Strictly for Lakelands events and her granny, Mary Pye, who passed away last year, was a volunteer Bereavement Counsellor at Lakelands for many years. “Lakelands is so important to the people of Northamptonshire”, said Charlotte, “It helps families during incredibly difficult times. I am so proud that our event will help support their amazing work”.
Lynnette Ballantyne, from Lakelands, visited the rowers to cheer them on at the end of their challenge. “They are a fantastic group of young people”, she said, “and the event has been brilliantly organised. I’m so impressed not only with their stamina but with the fantastic sum they have raised. They should be so proud of themselves”.
The successful rowers have a few days to catch up on sleep before their next fixture on January 19th with Nottingham County Rowing Association at Holme Pierrepoint Lake.
