Homerton breaks world record

As of 10:20 this morning (Tuesday 16th May) Homerton College Boat Club have broken the world record for the Mixed Team Longest Continuous Row.

Until this morning, the record stood at 3 days 1 hour and 25 minutes and was held by Newcastle University Boat Club. HCBC are going the extra mile, hoping to beat it by another twelve hours at least.

They just have to keep the flywheel of the rowing machine (or “erg”) going, so they’ve been drafting in rowers for shifts, including their Senior Treasurer and one of the CUWBC blues who won the boat race this year.

I donut like to think how much pain this guy’s in

They’re still going in Homerton Buttery, if you fancy popping down to cheer them on. If you don’t (because Homerton is far, far away) they’re posting regular updates on their Facebook.

The club are looking to raise £5000 for new equipment. In May Bumps year, the Womens’ First Boat missed out on winning blades, when their rudder wire broke. Currently, 50% of their boats aren’t safe for use – only last week yet another was written off.

Rowing in this weather doesn’t look so oarful

Speaking to Bluebird, the campaign’s organiser Hugo Ventham said ‘things have now reached a state of emergency. One of our college’s prized boats for many years, ‘Stevie Stephenson’ has lost its fin leaving our M2 with no boat to train in.  With a strong squad this year, we don’t want the standard of our equipment to dictate our success.’

You can donate to their boats for May Bumps here.