Speaking of La dépêche it’s the regional paper which interviewed us on Wednesday afternoon at Trebes. Here’s a link to the story, which includes the revelation that during the Olympics the NZ rowers had picked up three gold medals before France won its first gold.
Left to right:Chris W, Chris M, Georges K, Terry, Cynthia (holding the chariot), Tina, Anne and Georges L (missing are Liz, Pete, Chris B and Emile)
These guys: La dépêche (The dispatch) from the Toulouse Aviron Sports et Loisirs club. Their total time for the eight timed stages was 16 hrs, 46 minutes and 31 seconds, nearly an hour ahead of Stuttgart Green. La dépêche had a good mix of youth and experience and were dominant throughout, winning six of the eight stages (the Stuttgart crews winning the other stages).
It’s not all over yet. More anon including another Mayor and a few presentations….
Only 19.9 km. But after four and half days and with numb bums and blistered hands, “only” is a big word. It was warm work in the unrelenting afternoon sun but with Liz at stroke the Black Strokes soon settled into their rhythm. The unflappable Anne steered the crew through some very narrow bridges towards the last major hurdle on the Rallye, the Tunnel du Malpas.
The Black Spokes were enjoying a rather more leisurely ride but as they reached the Tunnel du Malpas suddenly found themselves encountering the unexpected: a hill. With the afternoon tea stop immediately after the tunnel, it was a mad scramble up and over the hill to catch up with the boat. Whilst Anne calmly squeezed the boat through the tunnel, Chris W, shouting encouragement as ever, took a wrong turn and finished up on the wrong side of the canal. However, Terry and Pete soon arrived to bring the boat inshore and allow the crew to grab some afternoon tea. Tempers were now a bit frayed in the boat and Liz’s knee injury was flaring up again, but after some afternoon tea and a drink Tina took over at stroke for the final 7 ½ km.
As the faster boats start last, the chase was really on with all the crews surging for the finish. The final kilometres were a real race, as the two Stuttgart crews and Rowing Club de Paris all sought to overtake. Both Stuttgart crews managed to do so but the Black Strokes took pleasure in making them work hard for it. As the finishing line came into view, Rowing Club de Paris made a final push. Tina responded by lifting the stroke rate to 31, and roared on by Chris W and Terry cycling alongside belting out “God Defend New Zealand”, the Black Strokes raced over the finish line just ahead of the fast finishing Parisians. The Rallye was complete. We had made it!
Straight after the start Anne guides the boat through a very narrow bridge at Capestang
Near Poilhes, left to right, Anne, Liz, Tina and Georges (note the two cannon in the background – a novel way of dealing with laggards perhaps?)
The Black Strokes approach the Tunnel du Malpas
And out the other side closely followed by the Sevrier crew
Into the final two kms, Stuttgart Green lead the Black Strokes, with Georges’ A.N. Mossac crew just ahead of Stuttgart Blue in the background
Passing under the penultimate bridge
The Black Strokes and Spokes at the finish. Left to right: Terry, Tina, Pete, Liz, Anne, Chris W, Cynthia, Georges, Chris M
The tired but elated Black Strokes. Left to right Anne, Cynthia, Tina, Georges and Liz
It did indeed turn out be a hard morning’s work with 2 ¾ hours rowing to cover the 27.4 km stage. In the last hour after Stuttgart Blue overtook us (they would eventually have the fastest overall time for the day’s two stages), we then got involved in another ding dong battle, this time with the Rowing Club de Paris. We successfully held off their repeated efforts to pass over the last three km but were tired by our morning’s efforts. That said, we had gained nearly eight minutes on our closest rivals from Marne & Joinville. It was time for (another) well earned lunch.
Not that we had much time to rest on our laurels, as first we met the charming mayor of Capestang who discreetly gave us a bucket of the region’s delicious and much prized olives. Pascal supplied some excellent wine from his family’s former vineyard and overall it was another enjoyable lunch by the Canal.
The south-west of France is the rugby heartland of France, Toulouse are the reigning French Top 14 champions, and local derbies have an intensity which makes Auckland-Canterbury seem like a primary school match. The Mayor of Capestang was naturally very proud of the local team, and he and his colleagues did look like a collection of former front rowers as they prepared the apertifs. It turns out Andre is an All Black fan, “Mon Coeur, c’est noir”, he told Terry. It therefore was really the perfect occasion to perform a Haka even though as Pete observed, we didn’t have any fierce warriors just three skinny white cyclists (well two plus the, ahem, “more solid”, Terry). Our timing was a bit scratchy but we delivered it with vigour and to enthusiastic applause. Suitably pumped, we set off on the final stage to Beziers.
Not a front row I’d like to tangle with…
Again you sense Andre and the Mayor go back a long way…
Left to right: Tina, Georges L, Georges K (Georgie), Terry, the Mayor, Liz, Cynthia, Chris W, Chris M, Anne and Pete
Of course it always helps to wear black when performing a Haka…(photo from the Aviron Sevrier site, merci beaucoup to the photographer Sylvie)
The good news was that were no more locks to cross, Friday therefore would be a straight-out row with brief stops for morning and afternoon tea. The bad news was that Friday morning’s stage to Capestang was the longest of the Rallye, at 27.4 km, including several long s-bends near the finish. Fortunately, the final afternoon stage to Beziers was relatively short at 18.2 km but it included the tunnel at Malpas, the only one of the Canal. Although by this stage it was clear that barring a catastrophe, the La Dépêche TASL crew would win the Rallye, there was still plenty of competition for the minor places, not least of which was putting some space between us and Pascal’s Marne & Joinville crew. That meant some serious racing was ahead. And so it proved.
The guide notes for the morning stage. The many twists and turns from Argeliers onwards meant that the stage seemed never ending.
Bridge over the Canal du Midi at Ventenac
The Black Strokes push past Georgie’s A.N. Moissac colleagues as Chris W watches
Anne expertly guides the boat through a narrow bridge near Argeliers
After several pushes the long limbed Stuttgart Blue team finally gets past the Black Strokes. In case you think we’re exaggerating about their height, the cox in the photo, Katherina, is six foot tall (182 cm), whilst the man in the bow seat is at least six foot six (198 cm)
It takes a lot of people to run the Rallye smoothly. Arguably the most critical group are the nurses, Jeanine, Monique and Jeannot. As the week went on the wear and tear on bodies and hands mounted and with temperatures consistently in the mid-30s there was also the ever attendant risk of heat stroke especially during the afternoon. Consequently, at the beginning and end of each day, and during lunchtime there was a line of participants waiting for treatment. With each day of the Rallye the line grew longer.
Jeanine, Monique and Jeannot worked tirelessly and with great humour through the week patching up the many wounded, most of whom had badly blistered hands. There were also plenty of cuts and with a high risk of infection because of the rather green looking canal, large amounts of iodine were smeared on all cuts. It was therefore no wonder that Jeanine, Monique and Jeannot got a huge ovation at the final dinner on Friday night for all their hard work. Incidentally, Jeanine’s daughter is living in Perth with her Kiwi boyfriend so Jeanine was delighted to make our acquaintance and practice her English. Our tribute to the three nurses was to give them a private rendition of Pokarekare Ana on Saturday, after which there was barely a dry eye in the house.
The queue before the start of Wednesday morning’s stage
Monique and Tina discuss the state of Tina’s hands – perhaps
Jeanine checks the hands of Nils from the Stuttgart Green team on Wednesday morning
Jeanine, Monique and Jean hard at work before the start of Friday morning’s stage
The hands that do dishes…?
Luckily Liz only got blisters on the last day but they promptly got infected although early intervention prevented further problems.
The Canal du Midi is not only a popular location for boat cruises, it’s also well frequented by cycle tourists. The path beside the canal is very good near Toulouse and could be ridden by any bikes but generally speaking the path is best suited to touring and mountain bikes. On a few sections the tree roots made for a bumpy ride and at least one Black Spoke took a spill, whilst Pete managed to break a pedal on day one. Generally though it was straight-forward riding and only got tricky at speed. Here are a few photos of the path and the Black Spokes…
Path near Ayguesvivies
Yes, a photo of a field of sunflowers is a cliché but we are in France in summer
On the way to Castelnaudary
At the finish at Bram on Tuesday afternoon
Chris W riding ahead as spotter on Thursday afternoon
Pete and Chris M on Friday morning
Crowds of spectators gather to watch the boats
Wedding venue in a vineyard by the banks of the Canal
During our lunch stopover at Castelnaudary on Tuesday, a France3 tv crew arrived to film the equivalent of Close-up or Campbell Live piece on the Rallaye (only with more attractive camera-crew). Terry was subsequently interviewed (in French) later that afternoon and the piece appeared on TV the following night. You can access the video
here
On Wednesday Terry was interviewed again by a journalist for a piece which appeared in a Saturday paper. Both interviewers admired our distinctive T-shirts (more about the design later but first a quick thanks to Liz and her family), wanted to know why we were participating and how we were enjoying it. The TV crew were also interested in the Rallaye’s NZ equivalent, a proposed row along the Waikato from Taupo to Mercer in March next year.
Finally for a perspective on the Rallaye from another crew, check out this post by the French Servrir crew who are based in what looks to be a spectacular venue on a lake near Chamonix in the French Alps. Unless my French is very much mistaken there are some very generous comments about us. Merci beaucoup Henri. Aviron Sevrier blog
(For our overeas readers the “World-famous” comment is a reference to a New Zealand advertising campaign for a soft drink only available in New Zealand).
On the bus back to Carcassonne from Ventenac we sprang a surprise on everyone by singing Pokarekare Ana. Even though our memory of the exact words was a bit patchy, it went down well, prompting Andre to respond with an old rowing song which is apparently unprintable, whilst the Stuttgart crews burst into a rendition of “Row, row your boat”.
For our French and German readers, here are the first two verses of this haunting Maori love song which is a favourite of many a homesick Kiwi.
Pokarekare Ana, nga wai o Waiapu,
Whiti atu koe hine, marino ana e,
E hine e, kohi mai ra, ka mate ahau, te aroha e.
Tuhituhi taku reta, tuka atu taku rini,
Kia kite to iwi, raruraru ana e,
E hine e, kohi mai ra, ka mate ahau, te aroha e.
Here is a video of the song being performed by St Josephs Maori Girls College
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