Friday 23 March 2012

John Bishop's Row of Hell

John Bishop's magnificent ride-row-run from Paris to London was charted in a BBC documentary last night.
Coach, cox and Langstone Cutter Mike Gilbert played a superb supporting role as he steered the Cornish pilot gig Deborah across, shown above fending off a recalcitrant flag to announce that John had already raised £285,000 for medical aid in Sierra Leone.
John looked truly terrible after a punishing bike ride from Paris, as long as a leg of the Tour de France. But, Mike says, he was clearly not going to get off the boat except by reason of death.
The timing was awful but they made it over.
What a great achievement. You can still donate to John's appeal here. Give generously.
And yes, I appear briefly in a segment on the training, rowing behind Freddie Flintoff. Who said, on camera: "In my experience, rowing isn't particularly enjoyable. I'm not even sure Steve Redgrave likes it."

3 comments:

JP said...

Didn't they all do very well.

Definitely a cause worth supporting

Graham Neil said...

I watched the programme last night, and yes I did see a glimpse of you. I thinks John's effort was truly magnificent, what a brilliant bloke.

Anonymous said...

Well done John !! Even my Mum (87) was apreciative of Mr Bishop`s achievements, she was a little concerned that no long term injuries were sustained and just a bit excited to see a real HBBR rowist on TV , if only for a brief moment. A donation has been sent to John`s fund, and you don`t hear that very often from a Yorkshireman!