On this clearest of mornings, as we stand on the edge of the landing of the San Giobbe Cantiere boathouse looking over the calm Venetian lagoon, we can see the sun gleaming on the snowy mountaintops a hundred kilometres away. This is our Long Row during the annual training week hosted by our friends at Settemari Venetian rowing club.
In June 2022, I met a group of rowers from Treviso’s SILE club when I joined the CIVV rally in Padua. Earlier this year, the SILE club contacted me to say they were coming to Oxford for the 2023 rally on 19-22 July. Stefano Melanotte invited me to visit the club during our March training with Settemari.
I would like to report on a stupendous event which has just taken place in Oxford. Thirty-one rowers and four supporters travelled by air to take part in the annual rally of the International Community of Venetian Rowers, or CIVV—this year in England and hosted by City Barge.