60 Lengths for 60 Years
To celebrate his 60th Birthday, Stephen Prichard decided to row a length for every year he has been on the planet.
Stephen’s son Mathew (17) was born with a cleft palate and profoundly deaf, but thanks to the care Mathew received, only those that know him well are aware of his difficult start to life. For this reason Stephen decided to dedicate his 60th Birthday to CLAPA and row 30 miles (48 kilometres) of Edgbaston Reservoir.
“Starting at 8.20 a.m. the weather was fine with a light breeze which strengthened length by length and the first 30 lengths (15 miles) were completed in a very fast 2 hours 20 minutes” says Stephen. “Lengths 30-40 were tough with the wind strengthening and by length 50 it was raining and I wished I was celebrating my 50th Birthday! I struggled through lengths 50-56 as by that time I had been on the water for 4 ½ hours and run out of energy. Thunder and lightening came to rescue as it meant that for safety reasons I had come off the water for ¾ of an hour and following tea and cakes I then completed the last four lengths with ease albeit in torrential rain.
Thanks to Ian Prevett who sculled alongside me for the 1st 30 lengths and to my wife Rhian who joined me for the last 14 lengths. ”
Thanks to the fantastic support and generosity of family, friends and work collegues, Stephen managed to raise an amazing £2420.50 for CLAPA.
We would like to thank Stephen for putting himself through such a gruelling task to raise money for CLAPA!
