Great River Race & Malta Victory: On Saturday 8th September 2007 I went to Ham, a mile or so upstream from Richmond, for the start of the Great River Race, a charity event on the River Thames first held in 1988. It is open only to fixed-seat traditional craft – including skiffs, cutters, Celtic longboats, currachs, and dragon boats (certainly not all traditional craft of the Thames.)
Each boat must all carry at least one passenger and a cox as well as those rowing or paddling. Later I photographed some of the boats as they passed through Central London but they were too spread out to make interesting pictures.
I was on my way to photograph the Maltese Victory Day procession from Westminster Cathedral, and left them some way down Victoria Street to photograph the statue of Nelson Mandela in Parliament Square which had been unveiled a few days earlier.
Here are some pictures from the day, along with what I wrote about them back in 2007. You can see many more pictures on My London Diary.
The Great River Race
Ham & Vauxhall
The Great River Race isn’t really a particularly great race, but there were well over 200 boats involved, and considerable competition. The event is a handicap, and also has multiple classes and boats start at different times – some over an hour before the fastest – but should all arrive at Island Gardens [21.6 mile away at the tip of the Isle of Dogs] at around the same time. The boats include some of historical interest as well as those built entirely for speed.
It’s a long course, and can get a little rough further down in poor weather, but today was a fine day and everyone started from Ham in good spirits – and a few already well-fortified. Sting came along and fired a cannon as a starting signal and then the boats made their way in number order down to the real start a few hundred yards down river, a few at a time according to their handicaps.
Media interest mainly centred on Sting and a high-powered crew of young ladies, The Sisterhood, who attracted a great deal of sponsorship. They have already made an enormous amount for charity with a fast paddle across the English Channel, but today turned out to be the second fastest ladies crew, their dragonboat being beaten by an outrigger canoe.
My personal favourites were a crew of Welsh ladies who seemed to have a more relaxed approach to the occasion. There did seem to be a great many participants from the Celtic fringes, as well as visitors from the continent.
After all the boats had left I [walked back to Richmond and] took the train to Vauxhall and saw the first few crews pass there, all still rowing well (the paddlers hadn’t yet caught up.)
Far too many more pictures on My London Diary
Malta Day Procession
Westminster Cathedral
September 8th is a holiday in Malta, celebrated as the Feast Of Our Lady Of Victories (it is also the Feast Of The Nativity Of The Blessed Virgin Mary), and was the day in 1565 when the Knights Of St John Of Malta defeated the Turks. By coincidence it is also the day in 1943 that the Italian occupiers of the island surrendered to the allies.
The Maltese in London celebrate with a Mass at Westminster Cathedral followed by fireworks and a procession carrying a statue of the Baby Mary (Bambina) from there to the Sacred Heart Chapel Of Ease in Horseferry Road.
Nelson Mandela statue
Parliament Square
The statue had been unveiled by Prime Minister Gordon Brown on 29 August 2007, with Mandela, his wife Graça Machel and London Mayor Ken Livingstone among those present.
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