LYME Regis Gig Club gained solid results at the gruelling Three Rivers Race, the traditional curtain-raiser to the gig rowing season.

Hosted by Caradon Gig Club at Saltash in Cornwall, the endurance race is around six miles long, starting and finishing under the iconic Tamar bridge with crews battling against the incoming tide and strong winds.

Featuring 75 crews from across the south of England, the race gives a good test and a measure of how all those long hours of winter training have gone. An opportunity for some to compare their performance with that of other crews they are likely to be racing against throughout the forthcoming season.

Lyme Regis entered two crews in the women’s race. The A crew, rowing in Tempest, held off some strong crews including Cattewater and Coverack to finish 32nd overall. The women’s B crew, rowing in Black Ven, finished 57th.

Lyme Regis also entered two crews in the men’s event. The newly-formed A crew, with a quartet of Three Rivers debutants and two competing in their first-ever race, finished 28th with the established B crew setting the bar and finishing in 23rd. A healthy rivalry beckons in the early part of this season between the two crews.

Overall, Tempest finished 29th and Black Ven 42nd which is an excellent starting point to build on for the upcoming the season. The club focus is now training for the World Pilot Gig Championships on the Isles of Scilly at the beginning of May when Lyme Regis will enter seven crews.

Lyme have three beautiful wooden boats, Rebel, Black Ven and Tempest; all built by local boat builder Gail McGarva in Lyme Regis, along with Prospero and Daring, the club’s two GRP training boats. The club also have two 15ft sea skiffs, a wooden skiff Gale Force and her GRP sister Storm Force for young rowers between eight and 12 years of age.

The aim of the club is to offer the sport of Cornish Pilot Gig Rowing to anybody who wishes to try ocean rowing and, by doing so, encouraging fitness and spirit within the community.

Lyme are always on the lookout for new members of all ages, so get in touch if you are interested in making some new friends, seeing Lyme Bay from a different perspective, getting a bit fitter and possibly participating in organised racing regattas in Dorset, Devon and Cornwall.