Gig rowers from Bermuda will take to the waters 28 miles off the coast of Cornwall, UK in the Isles of Scilly for three days of racing this weekend for the World Pilot Gig Championships 2019.
Fifteen members of the Bermuda Pilot Gig Club (BPGC) will be competing against more than 140 other crews from the UK, Ireland, the USA and Holland in the male and female, open and supervet, categories.
Paula Wight, Chairman of the BPGC, said, “This is the second time Bermuda’s gig rowers have participated in The World Pilot Gig Championships. We have been training very hard and are excited to compete in such a fun and challenging environment. This annual event, now in its 30th year, is one of the main events in the gig rowing calendar.”
The Bermuda rowers have formed into the following crews to race in a traditional wooden pilot gig boat called ‘Morvoren’:
Ladies’ Supervets: Nives Filice and Paula Wight have joined 4 UK rowers Kate Goodwin, Allison Quinton-Tullock, Nancy Rollinson, Angela Valentini, and COX: Andy Waters.
Men’s Supervets: Roger Gillett, Andy Pell, and COX: Paula Wight have joined 4 UK rowers: Steve Jones, Andy Littler, Mark Thomason and Bob Willingham.
Ladies’ Open: Alex Amat, Hattie Armstrong, Nives Filice, Laura Lyons, Natalie Sannemalm, Shrene Shergill, Hillary Williams and UK COX: Chris Hastings
Men’s Open: Nick Barrett, Craig Budzynski, Roger Gillett, Liam Jones, Tim Khoo, Richard Mansfield, Andy Pell, and COX: Paula Wight
Racing kicks off the evening of Friday, May 3rd with the supervets crew all aged 50+ rowers. The open categories crews aged 16+ will race twice on Saturday, May 4th and twice on Sunday, May 5th. You can follow the action on the ‘World Pilot Gig Championships’ Facebook page and website.
All of the Bermuda rowers said they “would like to send a huge thank you to everyone who has supported their training and fundraising efforts. Special thanks to Bacardi Limited who sponsored the crew jackets.”
In Bermuda, the BPGC has close to 200 members who row regularly out of four locations.
Paula Wight explains, “Our aim is to attract rowers from all sectors of the community. We offer rows for the fit and not so fit, the young and not so young. A goal this year is to grow our youth programme, with our youngest members aged 14+ learning about this exciting maritime tradition.
“Rowing is a fantastic, social sport that allows you the opportunity to get out on Bermuda’s waters for a great low-impact easy on your joints exercise that improves your overall fitness and wellbeing.” Contact us to give pilot gig rowing a try! Visit the BPGC’s Facebook page ‘Bermuda Pilot Gig Club’ or email info@bermudapilotgigclub.com.”
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