BSAC

The New Years Day Boat Race and Bridge Jump began about 23 years ago as a result of a challenge thrown out in a pub, as these things often do.

 

For the first few years the race was done on rafts made of four 45 gal. Drums lashed together. These gave way to specially designed and built wooden boats. The boats were a huge success and lasted for many years before old age and harsh treatment made them no longer fit for use. They were then replaced with metal boats built to the same design but these were not so successful. Their weight made them difficult to handle and each year all but the first three or four boats were sunk by inexperienced teams. They were washed downstream by the current and sustained heavy damage before being recovered by Ashbourne Divers.

Eventually they were replaced by the plastic moulded boats bought from the BIC company of France. These boats are excellent being “unbreakable and unsinkable� according to the manufacturers- time will tell on that one! They are also much safer for the teams being smooth and rounded. We now have sixteen of these boats with a promise of four more for the next year. A good job really as nineteen teams have asked to enter for next years event. Work starts in the summer getting the necessary permission from the local authorities and landowners etc.

A week before Christmas work starts in earnest putting up signs at all access roads to Ashbourne to advertise it. Between Christmas and new years eve we work flat out to set up the course. We also set up a double stall to sell bacon baps, tea, coffee and fruit juice. The riverbed is also searched by divers to make sure all is safe.

On the day we have a commentator who uses a megaphone to keep the crowd informed of events also to act as a co-ordinator between the safety team members. In the event itself the teams have to pull their boats from the starting line into the river Dove some three quarters of a mile plus upstream from the Okeover bridge. They then paddle furiously down a long straight towards a sharp left hand bend in the river which leads them straight onto a weir with a fall of ten feet over twenty three yards. It is here that the first two divers stand by to help any teams in trouble. After negotiating the weir plunge pool at the bottom they then embark on a long gradual curve in the river which is by then running fast over submerged rocks with occasional small waterfalls. Eventually they arrive at a slightly bigger waterfall where they must try to keep to the right of the river so as to land their boats on a shingle beach. Two more divers are on hand here to help them and to make sure no boats get swept away in the current.

 

Next, they must run 200yds to the top of Okeover bridge. Here a bridge marshal allows them to climb a ladder and leap off the bridge to the river 28ft below. The bridge marshal will only allow them to jump when it is safe to do so. Beneath the bridge there are three more divers kitted up should they be needed.

On surfacing the competitors have to swim 40 yds and wade another 40 yds to the exit point where another ladder is sited. Here too, there is a diver to help them.

Finally they are faced with a 250 yds sprint to the finishing line outside the Okeover Arms pub.

 

This year there was an all girls team and one mixed team, both were given a head start over the lads but it didn’t do them much good.

As the event is for charity, we try to get a representative from the chosen charity to start the race. This year it was John Wilson from the MS Society, who blew the air horn to get the race underway.

 

Ashbourne Divers Expeditions Officer Gareth Edwards launched a giant rocket to let the spectators at the bridge know that the boats were away. All the teams hit the water running and a furious battle followed to try to be first to the weir. Below the weir it was obvious that three teams were going to contest the lead. By the time the boats came into sight from the bridge it was team brown just ahead of the white swan and the horns who were level with each other at least a hundred yards ahead of the field. After beaching their boats the teams set off for the bridge and it is here that a bit of gamesmanship comes into play. The contestants from the teams lying second and third know that if they can get a runner between the two people in the lead it will slow them down at the bridge as they are only allowed to jump one at a time in the order they arrive. Being a good paddler does not make a good runner, nor does either of these make a good swimmer. The tactic worked so it was a mixed bag of team members that exited the river. The rules state that both team members must cross the finish line to win, and so it is all down to sheer guts and stamina to get across the field in front of the other runners to claim the coveted brass monkey award.

 

Team Brown managed to do this, with the Horns second and the White Swan third. The rest was anybodies guess as they all came in more or less together. That is all apart from the girls team who was stuck at the bridge. Rachel had gone straight off but her partner Alison was still sat on top of the bridge- the crowd counted down from five to zero several times before she finally took the plunge.

That was it or so we thought, the safety team was just about to withdraw when the commentator megaphoned that another boat had come into sight- it was the White Hart team who had arrived approx. Fifteen minutes late but was determined to complete the course. Alyx, the landlord, went off the bridge dressed in his party clothes from the night before complete with wallet and mobile phone. However the girls were very pleased because that meant that they did not come in last.

Everyone headed for the pub apart from Ashbourne Divers and friends who had to make secure. The boats are worth approx. £250 each and can be easily lifted onto the roof rack of a car by one person. They all had to be trailered away by 4x4s. The stalls had to be dismantled and also taken away for the same reason.  Ashbourne Divers and helpers could now go for a well earned pint and see how the money counting was going on, nearly £1700 on the day with a possibility of more at a later date.

Cheers everybody- heres to next year.