After a first edition in 2022, the second edition of the French long distance championships will take place next weekend, March 4 and 5, on the Breuil basin in Mâcon. Many spectators are expected to applaud the participants in these events which promise to be thrilling.
Like the famous “Head of the Charles” in the United States and “Head Of The River Race” in Great Britain, it is over a distance of 8000 meters back and forth that the boats will set off one following the other, at thirty-second intervals, on the Breuil basin, in Mâcon.
The first edition was a resounding success. We even notice since a certain enthusiasm for this long distance format because no less than 2006 rowers and rowers distributed in 492 boats will take part in this second edition of the French championships. It is the eight male J18s who will start the first Saturday at the start of the followingnoon (1 p.m.) in this French championship followed by the eight female J18s.
With 100 rowers in 25 boats, it is the master E men’s quadruple sculls event (ME4HX) which will have the most entries during this 2023 edition. There will also be 90 rowers in the king boat race, the eight senior men (10 boats entered). The masters have answered the call of this long distance championship, they are very well represented in most categories, a very good news for this championship which has only one year of existence. In particular, there are 117 rowers (13 boats entered) in the event of the eight master men E (MEH8+).
As for the clubs, it is CN France which, with 16 boats including 11 in the masters categories, has the most boats in the running, just ahead of Aviron Strasbourg 1881 which will take 15 hulls to the waters of the prefecture of Saone-et-Loire. On the local side, the Société des Régates Mâconnaises club will be present with no less than 9 boats, including the four senior men’s coxless (SH4-) and the eight junior women’s (JF18+) which will try to keep their title acquired in 2022.
Intended for a wide audience, these French championships are also an opportunity to find experienced rowers like Élodie Ravera (2 participations in the Olympic Games : 5th place in Rio in 2016 and 8th place in Tokyo in 2020) and former Olympic medalists like Franck Solforosi registered in the senior men’s quadruple (SH4X) on Saturday and in the senior men’s doubles (SH2X) with his club AUN Lyons. The competition will be strong once morest the Rouen boat which will be made up of three international U23 rowers, Simon Vandercoilden, Louis Pruvost and Pierrick Verger. The last two rowers mentioned were medalists at the U23 World Championships in Varese, Italy in 2022.
