How would you like to spend early January on an erg?

Starting at 9.03am on Saturday 19 January at Star Club’s boathouse in Bedford, the 10-man team knew they had to beat a total of 474,402m and pull an average split of better than 1:31; including changes; to achieve their goal and make history. This record was held by a French Army team ‘402 RA/Regates Remoises’ achieved in 2006.

Club captain Chris Callow was joined by former Olympian Pete Mulkerrins, also James Gani, Dave Kempsall, Mark Bavington, Richard Slaymaker, Joel Grant-Jones, Andrew Piesley, Kevin Bullard and Martin Birch, for the attempt. The team decided to take 30-second slots, with ultra-fast changeovers, and the erg display hooked up to a big screen for everyone to see.

Star put over 3000m onto the world record distance, rowing 477,455m in their 24 hours, with an average split of 1:30.5. The maximum rest anyone had was 4 minutes 30 seconds, and the money raised from sponsorship will be put towards purchasing a new coxless 4- for the club for this year’s Henley Royal.

Club Captain, Chris Callow, said

‘No training could prepare them for the task we had set ourselves. We knew that if we were all fit enough and our strategy was solid, then we had every chance of breaking the record. Every hour up until 14 hours in we were putting more and more on top of the record. This gave us a bit of comfort when we knew we were going to be loosing distance every half an hour when we started to tier. With only hours to the finish line, the team grew stronger and stronger and the atmosphere was electric. We knew we were going to break the record; but by how much!

With only 8 minutes to spare, we rowed through the world record and the faces of joy around the club, was amazing.

We would like to thank all our helpers and supporters who contributed to the success and especially, Kier Group; a major contractor in the UK based at Tempsford Sandy; who kindly sponsored the event and donated £5,000 towards the purchase of the boat.’