The following is from Steve Read, the oldest crew member and classic sports car enthusiast. Steve wrote the following piece for the Historic Sports Car Club magazine:
Last year it became apparent to me that sausages and beer weren’t the best way to fitness and my racing wasn’t going well. I fell out of the car after a race a red faced shambles of a human being. Mind you looking around the paddock I had some serious competition. I decided I needed to get fit, well fitter, and I knew that buying a gym membership wasn’t going to do the trick ,due to my world class talent for excuse making. I hired a personal trainer, a frighteningly fit chap called Alan. He runs marathons with the same effort that we walk to the bar.
His chosen method of torturing me was kettlebells, basically a 16 kg cannonball with handle on it. I reasoned that if it was good enough for Russian Special Forces to train with, it was good enough for a middle-aged historic racer. The idea is you throw these things about in all directions, and bingo you become fit. Picking them up was a challenge! The first session went well, in as much that I didn’t actually expire there and then, beyond that it was hell. I couldn’t do an hour of fairly light training. However three months on things are progressing. I won’t say I’m fit, but I’m a lot fitter than I was and my racing feels a lot less like a punishment then before. So far so good. I don’t know why but I’m sure I’m quicker than last year, maybe it’s just imagination.
Frighteningly Fit Alan saw “John Bishops Road to Hell’ on BBC where the scouse comedian bicycled, rowed and ran from London to Paris for Sport Relief and got the idea that doing a Channel row might be “fun”! He decided to put a team of eight together and asked his clients who was up for it. Stupidly I said I was, so suddenly I find myself committed to this madness, the oldest (by nearly two decades) in a boat full of pretty fit younger blokes, seven of them dreaming of glory, and one dreaming of sausage and mash and a good pint.
I suggested that if we were really going to do this we should at least do it for a good cause, and if no-one else had a better idea The Macmillan Nurses had my vote. They all agreed.
In 2011 HRSR/HTC elected to make The Macmillan Nurses our official charity after we lost our fellow competitor and good mate Peter Ergis to cancer. They did a superb job helping Peter and throughly deserve our support. You’ll notice that most of our cars sport Macmillan stickers. I’m doing the Channel row in memory of Peter and all the close, sometimes a bit too close, racing we all enjoyed with him. He was a great bloke and we all miss his infectious sense of fun... and filthy jokes.
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| Peter Ergis - Cortina Lotus 52 |
So the adventure starts soon. We are using the same company that trained John Bishop. They are based on Hayling Island and supply everything including training, support boats, and getting the necessary permission from the authorities in both the UK and France
We start serious training this week and have to complete four sea rows as team before we get the OK to do the Channel. The last hurdle to prove we can do it is to row around the Isle of Wight . That sound worse than the Channel to me! Our “Go” date is October the 5th, unless there is bad weather. I’m sure between now and then there’s going to be highs and lows, but this is worth doing. It should take somewhere between six and eight hours to do the crossing. It’ll take longer on the way back due to the duty free booze we’ll be carrying!
So I’d like to invite the HSCC to get behind this valiant attempt to re-invade France
If you want to find me in the paddock I’ll be the one lying exhausted on any horizontal surface dreaming of sausages, pork pies, bacon butties.....
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