Category: Team Life

Messing On The Lake

How do you end up on a speedboat on a lake on a chilly Wednesday morning? When you are a member of FitMums & Friends it’s not difficult. Sam (CEO of Fitmums) called me on Tuesday and said “I have a favour to ask” If you have read my post “I’ll Do It” you will know my tiny little mind was already saying yes. Fitmums is a running club which is also a charity and I have Second Claim Membership. The City of Hull AC is my first claim club and they are “competitive” so the two together, fit me quite well. Sam’s question was: Would I like to do a 2 day Powerboat course, starting tomorrow? One of the many initiatives they do is Dragon Boat paddling. Apparently this is very good therapy for people who have had breast cancer. It safely builds upperbody strength, manages lymphedema, and fosters emotional camaraderie.

When anyone is out on the lake there has to be a Safety Boat. People fall in, get stuck, breakdown, or even panic. So I guess it’s a bit like a rescue boat. Anyaways… Fitmums have to rely on there being staff available to man a safety boat and dear Sam thought it would be a great idea if we had our own safety boat crew. I wasn’t aware this was happening until I got the call from Sam explaining someone had to drop out and she thought of me, if i could be available tomorrow, Wednesday, for the 2 day course. Having spent some years on inflatables when I was spearfishing this sounded like fun, apart from anything else, Sam is so lovely it’s hard to say no! 😂 I was tempted to turn up as Jack Sparrow but Gillian pointed out to me this was probably a little more serious than the race we did in the summer. 😂 So I just went as me.

So there it is, I passed the course, but I’m still not sure if that makes me a Captain, Helmsman, or just a Sailor 😂

Happy Trails, Folks x

Jack Sparrow Goes Dragon Boat Racing

A few months ago I joined a second running club called Fitmums&Friends. They are more relaxed and not just about fitness but mental health, wellbeing and they are a registered charity. My main club City of Hull AC are… shall we say competitive. Anyaways… They decided to have a Dragon Boat race between all the different Fitmums groups. Ten teams, twelve in a team, two boats. I started with an idea to where a bandana, this became a bandana and a hat. Later, I thought why not a white shirt and a waistcoat, and maybe I could grow a beard. I guess you know where this is going? 😂

The day was a huge success, apart from the half hour of rain for our first race, which left me worrying that my mascara had run. Talking of mascara, how do you ladies do it? It was hell! Everytime Gillian came near my eye I backed off, so she practically had me in a head lock 😂 One thing that amused me was people’s reaction. I was the carpark attendant in the beginning, and some people gave me a second look, but most people were completely blasé, like it was the most natural thing in the world.

A good day was had by all, sadly we came fifth, but I honestly believe avoiding a collision from another team hampered our chances. Plus my dressing up idea caught on with the rest of the team. So you have to take into account that, while some teams trained, we were occupied with the outfits and getting our chant right 😂

It also gave me the opportunity to make a couple of very short promotional videos for the socials 😂I’ve dropped the YouTube links in below as I say they’re very short, but may make you smile 😂Happy Trails, Folks x