Oarsome Oldies 100 Mile Challenge: 3rd - 7th June 2024

1 Village

10 friends

100 Miles

The "Oarsome Oldies" are 10 village friends who have come together to challenge ourselves mentally and physically in aid of charities we hold dear. As a group, we've called ourselves the "Oarsome Oldies" because we're the oldest group (by far) to crew the world-renowned "Roxy", Rannoch's ocean going RX80 flagship boat. Only one of us has ever rowed before but for the rest of us rowing is a totally new skill set to master, so we are throwing ourselves in the deep end by attempting such an endurance row as our first ever challenge.

This five day row is going to be an enormous physical challenge for us. The Scottish waters are challenging, we'll be rowing against the prevailing winds and who knows what the weather will do? But we're refusing to go gently into the night! We began training last September, with weight to be shed, muscles to be developed and thousands of kilometers to be rowed to build endurance and stamina before our start date of 3 June. We have built up to rowing an hour each session on our trusty erg for the last few months and now adding in longer rows.

Starting on June 3rd we will navigate more than 100 nautical miles across Scotland, from the North Sea to the Atlantic. From Inverness we'll row across Loch Dochfour, through Loch Ness, Loch Oich, Loch Garry, Loch Lochy and down the Caledonian Canal until an exhausted but triumphant arrival at Oban. Each day we plan to row 2 hours on and 2 hours off for up to 10 hours a day, for 5 consecutive days, depending on our progress and how quickly we get to the next overnight stop.

We had a session all together on the water, in a four man boat similar to Roxy, to practice not clashing oars or catching crabs and working on our coordination. It would be kind to say it is a work in progress!

We are raising money for 2 causes that we feel strongly about and have close connections with. Firefly and our local village church. If you would like to support us please chose which of the two causes you would like your donation to go to and name it in your message for us so that we can allocate the funds accordingly. Or if you are happy to support both of them then you don't need to specify.

We are covering all our own costs, so all the money you give will go straight to the charities. Others in the group are raising money for different charities which you might see mention on the group's Oarsome Oldies page.

I can and I am is the charity that has kindly organised the group page so please don't worry when it is mentioned if you're kind enough to donate. Your donation will still go to the two causes we have chosen - details below.

We have chosen:

Firefly International - for children affected by war.

Started by the family of our very good friends and neighbours, Seb and Maria Chambers, Firefly supports children affected by the ravages of war. Through direct help with on the ground centres and training it fosters healing, teaching and peace building.

Firefly reaches thousands of children each year training and funding local people to help children cope and recover from the psychological effects of war. They run several projects including one in Turkey working with the children of Syrian refugees based in Antakya, the city recently devastated by an earthquake so their work has become even more challenging and in need of support. They also focus on refugees from Bosnia and the Middle East. Children don’t start wars - but wars take away their parents, wreck their schools, destroy their homes and traumatise them both physically and mentally. It is devastating and horrifying for countless children and families, so for years this small but incredibly successful and dedicated charity has helped to give hope and a more positive future for those caught in the cross fire. It is inspirational work.

https://fireflyinternational.org/

Friends of St Margaret's Church

Like many villages around the country, we have our village church at the bottom of our lane which is in dire need of help and financial support. Friends of St. Margaret’s Church has been set up to help preserve this listed building as a centre in our community. Our goal is for the whole of the village to enjoy the church by making it more inclusive and accessible for a wide range of events. And to stop it from falling down since parish churches do not receive financial support for repairs from the Church of England or the Government so it is totally reliant on our help.