Lac Léman (Lake Geneva) is a pretty, croissant-shaped lake, nestling in the Alps on the French-Swiss border.

As well as the attractive city of Geneva, with its famous Jet d'Eau fountain and the striking UN building, other towns perched on the lake's picturesque and chateau-strewn shores include Evian-les-Bains, Montreux and Lausanne.
With so much going for it, the only reasonable thing to do is:

Row round it!

And that's exactly what Cath, Charlotte, Hannah, Helena and Rachael tried to do
on 28 September 2008 in the
Tour du Léman à L’Aviron.

Pictured are Rachael (coxing) and Helena (at 2) with Rachael's then-fiance-now-husband Dan (at 3)
and friends Dave (stroke) and Will (bow) during the 2006 race.

Unfortunately, the calm high pressure that you so often get at this time of year in Geneva did not turn up till the day after the
race, and strong headwinds meant that a large number of crews soon abandoned the race or, as in our case, battled
on until they "swamped", swam, and were fished out by the numerous, helpful safety people in their large cabin cruisers. Here's a shot of the eventual winners, which gives you some idea of why it turned out not really to be the day for open boats
(especially not those without electric pumps fitted).

Picture (c) AD.

On 26 September 2009, the intrepid five set out again, this time equipped with an electric pump and buoyed up by the experience of rowing from Weybridge to Henley and back together in a yolette one weekend in August
(a mere 110km in total, over a luxurious 2 days, but the 26 locks en route did slow us down rather) - see below.

And they made it! ... in 16 hours and 4 minutes, which put them 2nd in the women's category.

Come back here for further pictures in due course.

About the Crew
	Cath is 31, and is a Civil Engineer living in York. She learnt to row at York City Rowing Club and has also run marathons in London, Seattle, Vancouver and Paris. 2009 provided the pinnacle of her rowing career so far when she won Club Eights at Henley Women's Regatta - York City's first win at this prestigious event! But never one to spend time wearing out her sofa, she also got a pb of 3:27 in the London Marathon this year, and is competing in the New York marathon in November. She competed at the FISA World Masters in 2007 coming a respectable 4th in the Women's Vet A 8 and has completed the Boston Rowing Marathon three times.
	Charlotte is 23, and is a University Schools Liaison Officer living in Cambridge. She now rows at City of Cambridge Rowing Club, but learned to row at York City Rowing Club when she was 15. Highlights of her rowing career to date include a bronze medal in Junior Doubles at National Schools, Head of the May Bumps in 2005 and 2007 with Jesus College, Head of the Town Bumps in 2008 and blades in 2009 with City of Cambridge, a silver medal for Cambridge University in an inter-university regatta in Taiwan, two Henley semi-finals and three University sculling medals. She's completed the Boston Marathon four times (once as a cox, which was arguably the most painful) and has run three marathons with a pb of 3:47 (though would like to point out she'd been injured and was, embarrassingly, hungover).
	Hannah is 27, and is a vet living near Ely, and seems to spend much of her working day being trodden on by horses and helping cows give birth. She's completed the Boston Marathon five times, losing by less than a minute three times, and winning by about the same margin twice (on one of these occasions the crew in 2nd place was Rachael and her fiance). She rowed for the Cambridge University Lightweights in 2004, and won the BUSA Lightweight category of the British Indoor Rowing Championships in 2006. She also has two gold and two silvers medals from 4s and 8s at BUSA. Off the water, she was 3rd in her category in the Anglesey marathon the week after Boston in 2007. She is the only member of the crew never to have been a member of York City Rowing Club, but grew up in Sheffield so has impeccable Yorkshire connections.
	Helena is 41, lives in Thames Ditton and works for an Internet-based publisher. She has been involved with rowing for over 20 years, largely as a cox, in which capacity she won the Brit at Henley with York City in 2007. Other highlights include winning the Coxed Pairs at the National Championships in 1993, Club Fours at Women's Henley in 1995, the Fours Head in 1994 and 1999, and coxing the fastest Women's crew at the Veteran Eights Head in 2006 and 2007. As a rower she has completed the Boston Marathon twice, once in a single (taking the not-too-hotly-contested Women's Veteran Novice record) and once in a quad with Cath, when they were fastest women's crew. She did the Tour du Lac Leman in 2006, and the Rallye du Canal du Midi this year in a mixed crew with Rachael.
	Rachael is 31, and is a commercial property solicitor living in Putney. She's been rowing for over 10 years, and won S2 Coxless at the Fours Head in 2008. She has done the Boston Marathon three times, and the Tour du Lac once. Her Summer holiday this year included completing the 204km, 5-day Rallye du Canal du Midi during a heatwave in a mixed crew, during which she distinguished herself by rowing more of the time than her male crewmates. She has been combining her Geneva training this year with long runs in preparation for the Amsterdam marathon just a few weeks later.

This web page deliberately contains no contact details for us to avoid spam - if you know us, you'll know how to contact us!