V-SOL supports the Thames Challenge
Three
members of Bedford rowing club are planning to set a Guiness World
Record by rowing the entire length of the navigable river Thames.
The
challenge set is to complete the 187 miles from Letchdale in Gloucestershire
to Southend Pier, Essex in record time. The row is planned to start
at 10.00pm on the 16th April 2004 and finish around mid day on the
18th April 2004.
The
attempt is a significant challenge: there are 44 locks on the upper
Thames which need to be negotiated with the help of a land based
support team who will manage the locks with the aid of the local
lock keeper. Once into the tidal Thames the team hope to use the
tidal flow to help progress down to the wider Thames where the rowers
will be required to row against the tide to reach the finishing
mark at Southend Pier.
Navigating
through the various river traffic will represent some problems,
support boats will be involved to help in this aspect as well as
providing essentials to the challenge crew.
The
challenge team contacted V-SOL to provide a gps tracking device
which could be fitted to the main rowing boat. this would not only
allow the boat to be tracked and located remotely but would also
provide independant verifiable data through the V-SOL system that
will be used as supporting evidence for the Guiness World Record
attempt.
The
Thames Challenge Web site can be found here.
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