It is well understood that athletes train at altitude in order to improve their performance at sea level. A group of Billygoats experimented with a variant on this principle by preparing for the cold and wet of the Rhine Marathon with an extended paddle down the Canal du Midi in a drought and with the thermometer at 38C.
The Rallye du Canal du Midi has been running for 43 years now and involves sculling from Toulouse to Beziers down 160 kilometres of the Canal du Midi over five days. It is a non-competitive event. Non-competitive is a relative term, however, when the boat is stroked by a former Billygoats’ President whose motto is “Two boats on the same piece of water is a race.”
There is a strong international flavour to the event with large contingents from the U.K., Australia, New Zealand and from around Europe.
The organisation of the event is excellent with a quad scull (or more strictly speaking a yolette), a chariot (2 wheeled trolley), bikes for the bank party, accommodation and food all included. The chariot is a critical part of the set-up. There are 47 locks en route and virtually no pontoons. The bank party were integral to the action, hauling the boat up the bank and on to the chariot (carefully avoiding giving any impression of doing so on a competitive basis).
There were bucolic scenes as we stopped for lunch, with picnic tables set for all 140 participants under the bankside trees and with simmering vats generally of something involving duck.
All in all, a very enjoyable week.
And they named a street after you!