Every office has somebody who says “yes” to everything – that person at J&PR is me! (Kirsty!)
So it came as no surprise to the team that we were signed up to the Macmillan World Championship Coracle Race.
So did we practice? No! Did we watch videos to learn a technique? No! Did we know what to expect? No!
We just rolled up (very relaxed!) to Pengwern Boat Club in Shrewsbury to an array of fancy dress, excited fundraisers and people laughing at others who had braved the practice session and may have even gone over board already!
As we were there and had not got a clue as to what to do we thought a practice session would be good! Life jackets on and off we went!
Practice went well – well for three out of four of us anyway! I would be doing our readers a disservice if I failed to mention Dani’s efforts!
Unfortunately for Dani the wind increased during her practice heat which saw her take a ride down the river towards the Boathouse Inn!
Luckily for Dani the rescue team were on standby and kindly brought her back to the pontoon for the next team member to have a go!
Luckily for me the wind had died down by the time I had my go!
So we enjoyed watching all of the heats before it was our turn in heat six.
Did we win? No! Did we lose? No! Did we capsize? No!
So all four team members stayed dry and despite getting very frustrated with the water, the coracle and the oars (yes we blamed our tools!) we were successful and came fourth out of five teams – narrowly missing the semi-finals.
I know what you’re thinking. Where was Rhea in all of this? Sadly Rhea felt her injured shoulder just wasn’t up to it (poor excuse!) so was the official team photographer but next year she will obviously be the team captain!
Next year we plan to have two J&PR teams so we’ll see you at the river bank to do battle on the water!
Anybody who would like to boost Team J&PR’s funds for Macmillan should email info@jandpr.com.
Team J&PR Simon Alton, Dani Wozencroft, Lorna McCann and Kirsty Smallman who took part in the World Championship Coracle Race to raise funds for Macmillan.
