Sport / Rowers elated after conquering capital with river race success
SHETLAND rowers stormed the capital on Saturday to claim two trophies at London’s Great River Race.
Burra Rowing Club finished sixth overall in a time of two hours and 41 minutes to ensure they lifted the open mixed trophy for a second successive year.
And Lerwick Boating Club’s rowers made it a superb sweep for Shetland by winning the John Gavin cup for the over 40’s mixed category.
The Lerwick team, who had an average age of 57, improved their time from 2024 by over 10 minutes to go from sixth last year to winners in 2025.
Burra rower Laura Hughes said that all of her team were blistered after Saturday’s success – but that “every single one was worth it” to be crowned open mixed champions.
“Rowing through London was an amazing experience,” she told Shetland News.
“Going past all the big attractions, looking up at Big Ben and the London Eye from our peerie Shetland yoal was quite a surreal experience.
“It was my first time taking part and because the rest of the team won last year, I felt an enormous pressure to retain the title and not let them down.”
Burra completed the 21.6 mile course in two hours, 41 minutes, but Hughes said that time “flew by” in the heat of the race.
“There were over 300 boats taking part and 28 bridges to pass under so our cox, Alwyn, probably had the hardest job out of all of us, having to navigate through all that,” she said.
“The atmosphere was amazing and every time you heard cheering from the bridges or spotted a Shetland flag, it gave you a burst to keep going.”
Lerwick rower Andrew Anderson agreed that it was a special and unique adventure for both isles’ teams.
“The whole experience was just fantastic and at times surreal,” he said.
“Rowing under Tower Bridge and then rowing past the House of Commons on our starboard side and the London Eye on our port side was particularly memorable.
“The support we received from Janice Leask and Gillian Henry, going from bridge to bridge, waving their Shetland flag and cheering us on really encouraged us to keep rowing hard – they made a real difference.”
Anderson said the hardest part of the competition was contending with the waves in the capital.
“The most difficult part of the day was dealing with the strong tide just before our race start time, manoeuvring past boats we were overtaking during the race and avoiding numerous large tree trunks and pieces of wood,” he said.
“Our cox Elaine Isbister did a fantastic job navigating this mind blowing, crazy event – on her birthday as well!”
Both teams were delighted to lift their respective trophies at the end of the race, and Hughes said it was brilliant to see “the shock and pure joy” on the faces of the Lerwick team when they were announced as over 40’s mixed winners.
“Obviously, we were all delighted to win the open category too and it was really brilliant that we were able to share our success with Lerwick,” the Burra rower said.
“There were plenty of celebrations afterwards!
“Regardless of winning, it was an amazing experience and I would recommend it to anyone.”
Anderson added it was a “fantastic achievement for yoal rowing in Shetland”, while Hughes encouraged more yoals from Shetland to give it a go next year.
Both teams thanked their respective sponsors, with Burra thanking Scottish Sea Farms, Bolts Car Hire, Art Machine, Ninian, Ocean Farm Services, Shetland Taxis, Adenia LK193, Venture LK64, and EnQuest.
Team Lerwick thanked Ocean Kinetics Ltd, Lerwick Port Authority, Research LK62, Art Machine, Thulecraft and Lerwick Boating Club.
And both Hughes and Anderson finally thanked Ewan Anderson for transporting both team’s yoals the whole way from Shetland to London and back.
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