Local teams row across Loch Ness in 'monster' inter-island battle

Friday 04 October 2024

Four teams from the Jersey Rowing Club took on their Channel Island rivals in a race across Loch Ness last month.

Over 100 teams took to the Scottish waters to row 21 miles across the famous Loch – where a broken oar for one Jersey crew proved a monster of a challenge.

'Monster the Loch' was founded in 2018 as the first mass participation boat race across Loch Ness.

Four Jersey crews entered this year, compared to Guernsey's three.

Having lost to the Sarnians in this year's Sark to Jersey row, Jersey's Will Le Quelenec thought it was time to "give [Guernsey] a good race". 

"[Last year] we said we would get a Jersey crew and a Guernsey crew to race each other, and that’s exactly what we did," he said.

"After the disappointment of getting beaten in this years Sark to Jersey by aforementioned Guernsey crew, we were really keen to give them a good race in Scotland."

Pictured: Le Quelenec's quad was made of Chris Morshead, James Hart and Joshua Watkins.

After winning Monster the Loch in a mixed Channel Islands team last year, Le Quelenec wanted to go one better and cross the line first in a complete Jersey quad this time.

But disaster struck just 30 seconds into the race.

"Unfortunately, after less than 30 seconds, one of our crew ended up snapping his blade, which essentially meant we were only effectively rowing with three crew, rather than four," explained Le Quelenec.

The Jersey team finished fourth overall in just under two-and-a-half hours – just four minutes behind the winner.

But with three Guernsey crews taking the podium positions in front of them, Le Quelenec's crew focused on taking pride in "sticking to the task". 

He said: "We were only four minutes off the first boat home, so we took pride in sticking to the task, but we weren’t able to give [Guernsey] a proper race with such a massive handicap."

The other Jersey boats in the year's Monster the Loch included the Jersey Mens Masters, finishing 14^th in two hours and 47 minutes; The True Grit crew, finishing 19^th in two hours and 52 minutes; and Jersey Ladies Masters, finishing 30^th in three hours and two minutes.