Simon Briggs does his best to stay above the water on the Filippi F84, a beach sprint boat. Photo: Jeff Gilbert for the Telegraph
«Point the blade,» my instructor Eira says from a safe distance on the lakeshore. «Now drop it — that's right. Try to feel like you're pushing the water away with your feet.»
It's a spring day on Redgrave Pinsen Rowing near Reading, the headquarters of British rowing, and I'm trying not to disgrace these two legendary names by flipping mine single weight.
The art of balancing like Jeremy Fisher in an Olympic vessel with smooth sides is much more difficult than it seems to the experts. However, I have the advantage of working on a Filippi F84: an agile and remarkably stable little boat designed for the new discipline of rowing, beach sprinting.
Beach sprinting is to traditional rowing what Twenty20 cricket is to a test match, or slopestyle is to traditional downhill racing.
This newfangled hybrid combines elements of triathlon, kayaking and even sailing. it is much cheaper to organize than a standard 2000m rowing race. You can use almost any beach, so countries like Tunisia — one of the leading nations — can do without building a rowing lake.
“The beach sprint has already been included in the program for the next Commonwealth Games,” says Louise Kingsley, chief executive of British Rowing, who hopes the format will be raised to Olympic level by 2028. Boat races or the Henley Royal Regatta.
Briggs struggles with the boat as he tries to master the finer points of beach sprinting. Image Credit & Copyright: Jeff Gilbert for Telegraph
The beach sprint covers land and sea. Starting in the sand, you run down to the water and then hop into your F84 (or equivalent), which is the paddle equivalent of a Dodgem car.
You now head out onto a roughly 250m long slalom course (although the length may vary depending on the tide) before turning around and looking for a wave that might speed you back to the beach. Finally, you jump out and run to the finish line. At the last World Championships in Wales, Helen Glover, a two-time Olympic champion in coxless pair skating, reached the final.
“At every World Cup we've ever had, someone always fell right before the finish line because they lost their legs,” said Gwyn Batten with a sadistic smirk. “I love the unpredictability of these races: they never end until they are over.” Batten oversees today's tasting session at Redgrave Pinsen Rowing Lake, which attracted eight willing beach sprinters. She's the perfect guide since she invented the format 12 years ago in partnership with Italian Pasquale Trigiani.
Olympic silver medalist in the quad sculls in Sydney, Batten grew up in Brighton and has always sailed in and around boats — be either sailing or rowing. In 2003, she became the first woman to cross the English Channel solo, setting a time record for both sexes.
The beach sprint has already been included in the next Commonwealth Games — time will tell if our very own Simon Briggs makes the Great Britain team. Posted by Jeff Gilbert for the Telegraph. Italy, when she noticed that the small number of spectators dispersed after the first three crews had finished. “I always felt that traditional rowing was separate from the fans,” she said. “So I got the idea that if we add a ground element where we're almost at crowd contact distance, it might make it more intuitive.
“The next day we returned to the scratch regatta where we started and finished on the beach. We had about the same number of viewers, but this time they stayed until the end. After that, it was necessary to develop the best format that would allow viewers to see the whites of your eyes.”
Last weekend, four participants were members of the Norwich Rowing Club. One of them, 29-year-old James McKelvey, said his friend Will inspired the entire club by winning a medal at last year's European Championships in Spain.
The rowing lake doesn't have a beach, so this session is all about getting to grips with the F84. If traditional singles are rifles, then they are more like sawn-off shotguns: short, wide and practically unsinkable. Batten offers a bottle of champagne to anyone who knocks it over, although she may not have appreciated my clumsiness.
A beach sprint is to traditional rowing what Twenty20 cricket is to a test match. Posted by Jeff Gilbert, Telegraph
Her instructions focus mainly on turning the slingshot. You use one oar as a brake, turning it against the current of the boat, while pulling with the other. «It's scary,» says 18-year-old Ella Darrington of Peterborough Rowing Club after her first cautious attempt. “Essentially, you are being asked to catch a crab.” But Darrington excels in the time trial and finds himself rowing against McKelvey and Aaron Baines (also from Norwich) in the Batten «A» final of the day.
“The races last about three minutes,” says Batten. . “It can take twice as long for a traditional crew of eight to cover 2,000 meters, so it's more explosive, but you also have to go through the quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals within an hour to win. This combination of strength and endurance is quite unusual in the sport. I also like that you have to be mentally tough and flexible because there are a lot of variables: waves, wind, sandbars, paths that aren't exactly equal. Most rowers are so picky about everything because they usually compete in a much more controlled environment, so it's nice to throw them a spin ball.
When I inadvertently spin my F84, I see that this new discipline requires patience to master her. But everyone is having fun, and Batten clings to his sparkling wine. Personally, I'm sold. In a sport that sometimes feels frosty and overly formal, beach sprinting can be a great icebreaker.
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