Vogalonga 49 race report
Two adult FRBC crews (and a London RC crew in an an FRBC boat) set off for Venice rowing in the 49th annual Vogalonga. Heather, Yulia, Sean, David, Irene, Nathalie, Ben, Juan and Eyup took on the challenge of rowing the 30km course around the historic picturesque Italian city.
Nearly 3,000 boats of various kinds — from tubs and fine boats to dragon boats and kayaks to crews and singles — were rowing in this event that’s a unique alchemy between competitive athleticism and a free-spirited carnival atmosphere.
Not without its challenges though, a delayed visa renewal held Munish back at the last minute from rowing with the crews. David was confident that “we’ll find someone in the street”. Not far off, the day before the marathon, the crew got Alessandro Sandi of the local Diadora Rowing Club to fill the empty seat. Alessandro, a lifelong native of the Venetian island of Lido, rowed the Vogalonga when it first began, but hasn’t since the late 70s.
The local guidance of Alessandro gave his Swift Coastal boat “Barcelona” with Heather, Yulia, Sean and David a little edge who finished in just under 3 hours.
One of the most magnificent stretches of the course is the last 3k that winds you through the Grand Canal passing underneath the Rialto Bridge. However, it can also be a maddening bottleneck, which the other FRBC boat encountered.
Nathalie, Ben, Juan, Irene and Eyup had to navigate the approximate 60m wide waterway with hundreds of other boats — this stretch alone took about an hour adding to their finishing time of just under 4 hours.
Everyone was beyond jubilant to receive their medal after passing the Santa Maria della Salute Basilica, but then reality set in when we had to row a dreadful 5k back to the boathouse in Lido. “The marathon rowing gassed us, the sweltering sunny 26 degrees fried us and the choppy low water challenged us, but Alessandro’s gaslighting of ‘just 5 more minutes’ gave us hope,” Sean recalls.
