Two former Olympic rowers combined with six beginners for the recent Great River Race – after spontaneously deciding on a night out.
Double Olympic champion Heather Stanning and silver medalist Jess Eddie made up the boat’s experience, with the remaining six seats occupied by novices of the sport.
The boat was one of 270 that completed Saturday’s 21.6-mile row, dubbed the UK’s rowing ‘marathon’, with the course starting in Millwall and finishing west in Richmond.
Zoe Stanton, who organised the crew’s outing, decided to enter the race with Stanning following a night out whilst they were both living at an RAF base in Cyprus.
Neighbours during their time abroad, the duo became good friends after Stanning began helping Stanton get fitter following a back injury,
Stanton said: “At first I was really terrified, because she’s obviously an Olympian, but she never made me feel awkward or anything.
“Then we were at a ball, and I said, shall we do the Great River Race? We’d had a few drinks, and she said, ‘yeah, that sounds fun’.
The pair had to scramble for a boat, crew members, and a place in the race itself, with spots filling up quickly.
On the search for six others, Stanton remarked at how different her friends were compared to Stanning’s – but that the combination of professionals with first-timers was a brilliant one.
She said: “My friends are just normal people, and I didn’t really think that all her friends would be pro-rowers.
“When I first told my friends, they said ‘oh my gosh, what have you got us into?’
“But it was so cool seeing everyone come together and find out about each other.”
Dressed in silver onesies and sequin jumpsuits, the crew tied inflatable disco balls to their boat, the Len Williams, and finished the race in just under three hours.
Raising money for Fulham Reach Boat Club, Stanton’s group have amassed nearly £1,000 in donations for the Sport for Good charity, which aims to make rowing accessible to the whole community.
Named the Sport and Recreational Alliance’s 2024 Community Club of the Year, Fulham Reach encourages rowing for all through a combination of youth and disability programmes, environmental research, and their prison rehabilitation scheme, Boats not Bars.
Given the nature of the crew, Stanton and Stanning thought the charity was a perfect fit for their fundraising efforts.
Stanton said: “It seemed really fitting that it was about opening up access to rowing, especially for the group that we were.
“Fulham Reach were really cool, really supportive, and it was so great hearing them cheer and support us as we went by.”
Adam Freeman-Pask, the club’s CEO, explained his delight at Stanton’s choice to fundraise for the club.
He said: “It’s wonderful when people want to give back in this way.
“For people at Fulham Reach to see others who have achieved so much in the sport, rowing and representing us, is fantastic.
“It shows that, while we’re not winning Olympic gold medals down here, we’re doing something potentially bigger than that which is changing lives.
“All of that was facilitated beautifully by Zoe’s ambition to give the race a go.”
Having completed the race, Stanton says that the beginners among the group are already searching for their next challenge – with some keen to explore rowing further as a result.
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