Thank you to Porthleven Gig Club for providing this insight to the Across The Bay Race.
The sun shone on Wednesday 10th July 2024 as 16 crews lined up at Marazion for the Annual Across the Bay Gig Race hosted by Porthleven Gig Club.
Photo credit: Porthleven Pilot Gig Club
This iconic evening race, which first took place in 1991, starts at Marazion and finishes in Porthleven Harbour. Open to Mixed crews, this 8.25-mile challenging endurance race demands fitness and stamina from the participants. The race is well known for leaving painful memories and lots of blisters.
All the crews gathered on the start line with St Michael’s Mount as the dramatic backdrop. Facing a gruelling challenge, crews typically finish the 8.25 mile race in about 1 hour and 10 minutes. However, with favourable wind and sea conditions this year, some teams were optimistic about completing the race within an hour to catch England’s Semi Final match in the European Championships at 8pm.
Photo credit: Porthleven Pilot Gig Club
It wasn’t long after the start that the Mounts Bay Crew in Ictus pulled ahead of the pack and held a comfortable lead finishing first with an impressive time of 1:03:23. The remaining crews were not far behind with the Porthleven crew rowing Energetic holding second place but facing a late challenge from the St Ives crew in Defiance as they turned at the buoy and headed into Porthleven Harbour. The Porthleven crew managed to hold onto their lead finishing in 1:08:11 followed by St Ives with a time of 1:08:44.
Very soon the remaining 13 crews passed the finishing line with the final boat from Cape Cornwall passing the line with a time of 1:16:48, meaning all crews arrived back at Porthleven in time to see England win and progress through to the cup final!
Porthleven Chairman Glenn Eastman expressed his excitement over the day’s achievements: “I am absolutely delighted with both the rowing and football results this evening. This is a challenging race, but I think the added incentive of England playing in the semi-finals helped spur crews on to finish with some fantastic times.”
The results were as followed:
Ictis
Mounts Bay
1:03:23
Energetic
Porthleven
1:08:11
Defiance
St Ives
1:08:44
Kensa
Mounts Bay
1:09:32
Morah
Coverack
1:09:56
Melusine
Zennor
1:10:36
Pentargon
Boscastle and Crackington
1:10:55
Buller
Cadgwith
1:11:17
Dew of the Sea
Penryn
1:12:08
Cormoran
Mounts Bay
1:12:17
St Elvan
Porthleven
1:13:24
Avarack
Pendeen
1:14:35
Daedalus
Culdrose
1:14:52
Morladron Vathys
Penzance and Newlyn
1:16:20
Azook
Hayle
1:16:40
Brisons
Cape Cornwall
1:16:48
Porthleven Pilot Gig Club would like to thank the St Aubyn Estates for once again giving permission for this race to take place, Mounts Bay Pilot Gig Club for all their help with event coordination and stewarding, the Porthleven Harbour and Dock Company for the use of the Harbour Head, Out of the Blue Freehouse and all the Porthleven Club members who helped make the event possible.
Well done to all crews who took part!
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