GOM 2024: the race report

The Great Ouse Marathon (affectionately known as ‘The GOM’) is one of the longest races in England and indeed the world – a 22km stretch of the Great Ouse between Denver and Ely. It’s one of the finest stretches of water in the world, which IOERC is very lucky to call home. The GOM is one of the club’s biggest fundraising events of the year, and in 2024 we were privileged to welcome 124 crews from clubs as far afield as the Tyne and the River Wye in Wales across multiple categories. IOERC itself had 12 racing crews this year: a women’s eight, men’s and women’s J17 quads, men’s and women’s masters quads, a men’s coxless four and pair, women’s and junior double sculls, and three very hardy single scullers. Crews boated from the landing stage at West Norfolk Rowing Club (WNRC) in Denver, and raced upstream to the finish line at Ely. A huge amount of planning always goes into this event, and we are indebted to WNRC for their coordination and support.

We were delighted to celebrate wins for our women’s eight, plucky young women’s double and unstoppable J17 coxed quad too. A huge well done to all Ely crews and all our fellow participants, who sported their GOM t-shirts with pride! Anyone still interested in ordering their t-shirt, you’re not too late – please see info at the bottom of this page.

W1 (8+)

Welcome to the next chapter in W1’s quest for aquatic domination in 2024!

Buoyed up by our success in the Bumps, GOM was our next challenge. Our eight set off at the start of the sunny September morning at a strong stroke rate feeling determined to represent W1 well and do our coaches proud. Thanks to a cunning conspiracy between our stroke, Jo, and our fabulous guest cox, Sophie, we were coaxed into keeping our splits below the magic target needed for our goal time. Sophie kept our timing tight and our spirits high with her always-knowledgeable and inspiring calls. Luckily, thanks to all our endurance training with Duncan and Rob, we were fit enough to sustain the pace. All our technical exercises to maximize efficiency paid off over the long course, carving off those extra millimetres with each of the approximately 2400 strokes (!!), and we stormed through the finish line on a time of 1h 34m – a new course record for a women’s eight. We shaved off a full 8 minutes from the previous official record held by Chesterton Rowing Club since 2019, and also beat the ‘old points system’ record of 1h 36m set by Loughborough BC in 2015.

We were extremely pleased to win our prize, which, true to IOERC form, was an environmentally friendly award of a beautiful young tree from our local nursery Botanica.

Women's eight ready to row from Denver to Ely
Women's eight racing

GOM T-shirts

If you would like to order a Great Ouse Marathon 2024 t-shirt, please contact Jill (jillcoachyou@gmail.com) with your order: t-shirt colour (orange or navy), size, your name, and your address. You will need to send the club £21 with your name and “tshirt” in the reference.