Meaning “long row” in Italian, it lived up to its name for four Wallingford Masters who rowed a total of 35kms in 4.5 hours around the canals and sea channels of Venice on Sunday 28th May.
The Vogalonga was founded in 1974 by a group of Venetians protesting against the deterioration of the city and the effect of waves caused by motor traffic. Since then it has grown to a huge, international event with some 8000 rowers in 2000 boats. It is a procession, not a race, akin to a painting by Canaletto. Alice Brown, Deb King, Laura Forrest and Janet Dutton hired a Filippi coastal coxed quad (having trained for it in our very own venerable Tony Wheel coxed quad, unused by anyone other than WJ14s for a century…) Boating out of Diadora rowing club in Lido, with Francesco the cox from Pisa, they rowed past a giant paddleboard with 10 paddlers, kayaks, gondolas of all sizes, a 5 person quad (?), frogmen by a bridge in the Canale di Cannaregio saving it from becoming a logjam, and of course the infamous pool of bright green water in the Grand Canal.
An exhausting yet amazing experience.
Wallingford Rowing Club 