Titanic Sunk ..........

Right..... our coaches first real tip (beyond that about gloves) has come in and it reads as follows:

"No matter how tough every stroke may seem its nothing for what you can achieve, row on no matter what!"

Now forgive me for ignorance but he's a rower we are infact 'non athletic!' he may say row on but maybe we might get to that stage that we cannot continue for that day. However that said having been to a local beer festival this evening i'm full of confidence regardless. Ok so some may say "its the drink talking". but i honestly feel that between all 3 of us we have the determination to suceed in this challnge!!!!

I stayed clear of the beer by the Titanic Brewery this eveing for that specific reason, I feel its important to keep a possitive attitude and for that i feel confident!!!!

Our fundraising continues to grow and once again we extend our thanks and gratitude to those that have donated and once again direct those yet too to our Just Giving page at the bottom of this site.

Moor Training..............

As the Big Off is now just one week away, this week my 'training' has intensified a tad more! Roughly translated i have been to the gym a couple of times and even been swimming (incase the inevitable happens).

Gary has been looking at places we can moor the boat along the river and also the locks that we will have to conquor!!! The fundraising continues to go well and we have almost reached £250 which is once again a fantastic achievement with a week still to go until the start!

Coming up we have profiles of all 4 members of the crew with the all important questions that i know your all hoping to find out!

We have also started to compile a list of the 'essentials' needed for the trip. Some of those which we have already come up with are Pain Killers, Paracetamol, Deep Heat and Plasters...... I'm sure from this alone you get a feel for how we are envisaging things panning out!

For Today

Dave

Oarsman's And Angler's......

I forgot to mention the other day that while at Henley, as well as getting important tips and sight of some proffessionals, we also managed to get an important tool for our trip. A MAP!!! More impressively its a map of The Thames from 1893 and was certinaly used by Jerome K Jerome in his original journey. Although the landscpae has changed radiacally, the river has not changed at all and will be brilliant for the journey. Its also just the right size for a map, not to big or unwieldy. I know this sounds rather tedious, but I'm actually quite excited by this (awww bless ED.) So now we know where were going and another jigsaw piece is in place.

Gary

Blisteringly Good Advice Ign-Oar-ed..........

I'm sure some of you will recall our introduction of our Coach who joined the 'team' a few days ago. Likewise you may recall his first piece of worldly advice....

"Gloves are for Wozzes, Blisters are a real sign of success."

And thus today whilst shopping at a well known High Street Supermarket....... I brought some gloves!!!! Call me a wozzie if you like but for me the important thing is that i get to the end, still with two hands!!!!

I have also once again visited the gym (and Sunday is apparently the day of rest!!!) and feel that i should be ok to get through the challenge... as for the other two ............ I'll let you finish that sentence!

On the fundrasing front were almost at £200 which is a great achievement with 9 days to go before the challenge even begins. We would once again like to thank all those of you that have already donated, and those of you who are yet to donate we ask if we can kindly direct you to our Just Giving Webpage.

For Today

Dave

Splashed All Over The Media.....

In previous days we have mentioned the publicity that we have recieved and also that which we hope to recieve. Well we are pleased to link to two websites/and subsequent papers which have carried the story :

The Feltham and Hounslow Chronicle

and

The Richmond and Twickenham Times

We have indeed contacted other papers and by all means if anyone notices other articles we would be more than interested to hear.

For Today

Dave

From Boat to Coach.........

As i'm sure many of you have had a sleepless night, worrying about who our new 'member' is going to be....Well can i introduce our mysterious coach. As you can see from this very rare picture (this man is difficult to photo.) He is not Sir Steve Redgrave (well unless he's in disguise anyway). He is however a man of little style, but an incredible mind, especially when it comes to rowing. He's going to fit into his busy schedule from coaching some of the greatest British rowers words of wisdom too help us through. Although from his first message it might not all be useful. I'll sign off with his first pearl of wisdom:

"Gloves are for Wozzes, Blisters are a real sign of success."

For now,

Gary
ps. For those still in suspence my meeting with Sir Steve involved him asking me to move out of the way...... I guess he doesn't know who I am!!!!

Henley Re-Gator ...............

Well todays been an entertaining day. For the 6th year on the trot I managed to make it to a day of the Henley Regatta. For those of you unaware, Henley features highly as both a great rowing compettetion, but also an important event on the British Summer's sporting scene. Up there with the Lord's Test Match, Wimbledon and Ascot, the banks of Henley are a place to see but also a place to been seen.

Avoiding some of the more extravgant hats and flying bottles of champagane, I was also able to catch up with an old mate of mine, Ashley and his father. Both of whom are Rowing experts (well pretty much everyone compared to me is.) Ashley in fact is a member of Staines Rowing club and trains 6 nights a week (sounds like hard work.) So I was able to catch a few tips from the guys and watch more then one or two Olympic Rowers in action. Some of these little tips will follow in the next few days, along with the introduction of a new 'non executive' member of the team. I also feel at this moment we should mention that last year I was spotted next to Sir Steve Redgrave, but as i said more on that throughout the week.....

Anyway, back to the social side of matters, disappointingly the bow ties were few and far between today, but the boaters didn't let me down. Tried to get one myself, but of all places Henley seemed to be lacking of Boaters salesmen. Was looking forward to owening one for the jaunt, but it doesen't seem to be I'm afarid. The jackets on display today though was also really quite special, If only Joanna my girlfriend was entuastic about such jackets (personally I think Jo has the right mindset ED).

Well it has to be said that in all it was a very interesting "fact finding" mission. I feel very much more confident as a result. After seeing the so called proffessionals, I do not think were going to have a problem whats so ever. (Can the ED point out, this is only Gary's dilluision talking.)

Gary
ps, We did have a few jars as well, just to get that practice like.