ROTARY - Humanity in motion
March 2010:
The Club has been intensely occupied with organising the Dragon Boat Festival since it was decided to take over the running of this event. In recent years this event has seemingly lost impetus and in fact never ran last year.
As a Club we have never undertaken a project of this size that requires a real hands-on approach and all members have been actively encouraged to get behind the project and take responsibility for the various elements, of which there are many.
April 2010:
The Dragon Boat continues to dominate the scene. We have a number of entries for this fun day but there is still time to consider taking part. (see the "Dragon Boat Tab" and download your application form from the link below).
As usual we wil be supporting the "Stroke Awareness" event at Waitrose, St. Katherine's Dock on 17th April.
We are also involved in the London Marathon on 25th April. We have a runner (nephew of a Club member) running on behalf of the Rotary Club of Tower Hamlets.
Our runner, Russell, was born in London in 1967 but departed to Australia nearly 40 years ago. Married with two children. An active sportsman whose history is:
4 marathons (1994, 1995, 1996, and 2009).
The Australian Ironman triathlon in 1996 (swim 3.8km, cycle 180km, run 42.2km) completed in 12 hours.
100km Oxfam Charity walk in 2005, completed in 25 hours.
He has done triathlons for over 8 yrs and has run more than 12 half-marathons including a couple in London.
He has so far raised over £2k for the Club in this event. Please visit his fundraising page -
http://www.justgiving.com/RussGriffinLondonMarathon2010
for more information and where you can make donations.
Additionally the Club is providing backup support to the event as race marshalls.
UPDATE LONDON MARATHON -25 APRIL
Russell completed the run in 3 hours 54 minutes. (see UK ALBUM).
Quote from him "I just want to send this quick note of sincere thanks to you for letting me realise my dream of running the London Marathon. It was an incredible experience, made even more special by the real prospect that I nearly didn't get to the start line." (Icelandic ash cloud stopped all flights you may recall). "I have sore legs as a temporary souvenir and memories that will last much longer."
DRAGON BOAT FESTIVAL is only 2 weeks away. It is all hands on deck so to speak! We are hoping for good support from Rotary friends and families. Fingers crossed that the weather is kind to us.
UPDATE DRAGON BOAT FESTIVAL - 16TH MAY - THE DRAGON BOAT FESTIVAL GOES AHEAD DESPITE SOME LAST MINUTE PROBLEMS AND WE FEL THAT HAS BEEN A RESOUNDING SUCCESS FOR A SMALL CLUB. WE ARE NOW LOOKING TO BUILD ON THIS AND MAKE 2011 AN EVEN BETTER EVENT!! (see DRAGON BOAT PHOTO ALBUM)
KIDS OUT - 2010
Rasib & John accompanied pupils and carers to Paradise Park where all had a good time. We distributed caps and toys and finished the day by purchasing ice creams for all in our party. The weather was good and there were many other Rotary clubs there. A lovely letter of thanks was received from Headteacher Stewart Harris in which he enclosed a number of "thank you" letters from the children. Please see UK ALBUM
UPDATE CROSS CHANNEL SWIM - 1st person to attempt to swim the Channel with multiple disabilities.
Our swimmer, Sagar Badve, from Aurangabad, India, has arrived in Folkestone and has been acclimatising.
Sagar is aged 20 and has represented India at swimming twice His mother is a national swimmer and Sagar took up swimming at a young age to keep fit. He was born totally deaf and with glaucoma. Having had a number of operations he now has only approximately 40% vision in one eye. He communicates by sign language and lip reading. He is in his first year studies for pharmacy. He hopes to represent his country in the deaf Olympics which will take place probably in UK in 2013. His determination to complete this project, notwithstanding his health situation, to make his dream real will hopefully earn him a place in the Guinness Book of Records. He has been practising daily for up to 41/2 hours and is confident that he will succeed This is not his longest swim (he has done 81km) but the conditions in the English Channel are somewhat different.
A press conference was held 17th June at Shalimar restaurent in Brick Lane attended by several TV channels including Channel S and Bangla TV. Hopefully interest will be aroused among the Bangladeshi community which wil lead to more involvemen with Rotary over the coming months.
Please see photographs in the INTERNATIONAL ALBUM.
The attempt was due to be made on Saturday 19th JUNE 2010 subject to wind/current conditions but regrettably the weather and the cold was against him this time and he was forced to abandon his attempt.
UNDER 16s BADMINTON COMPETITION 27TH JUNE 2010
The Rotary Club of Tower hamlets sponsored the Under 16 Badminton competition at the Bishop Challoners School, London E1 on June 27th 2010. The winners and runners up were awarded trophies and Badminton shirts. By making the awards The Rotary Club of Tower Hamlets hope to encourage more youth to get involved in sports and off the streets. Please see UK ALBUM
STRAITS OF GIBRALTAR CROSSING 17th JULY 2010
He may not have made the Channel at his first attempt but Sagar Badve has swum across the Straits of Gibraltar in 3¾ hours. This puts him amongst the fastest times and is a monumental achievement given his age and disabilities. The Rotary Club of Tower Hamlets is proud to be associated with this young man.
"REGLAMENTARY LIST OF SWIMMERS
ONE WAY CROSS
MAIN
Id NAME SEX NATIONALITY DAY TIME ARRIVAL AGE OBSERVATION/PHOTO
267 SAGAR RAJIV BADVE M INDIA 17/07/10 03:45 CIRES 18/11/1989
20
deaf-mute and partially blind "
Check out the Official WebSite: http://www.acneg.com/acneg%20ingles/One%20way.html
The President has also confirmed that he has made history by being the first person with multiple disabilities to complete the crossing. Please see International Album for Official documentation.
CROSS CHANNEL SWIM 3rd AUGUST 2010.
The swim finally took place on Tuesday, the 3rd of August from the starting point on the beach at Folkestone at 2.30 AM. Our swimmer Sagar walked on to the beach and at 03.25 was given the go ahead and the swim started in the dark.
Given that Sagar had little sight he swam very well in the dark, following the bright lights of the pilot boat. All was going very well up to the 12 mile mark during which time he had overtaken two other swimmers and was catching up with others that had started well before him. At that point he had crossed both shipping channels and had reached French water.
Soon after, fog descended on the French coastline and it disappeared. Due to his blindness he could not see the coastline. As we got nearer the fog started to lift very slowly but Sagar was losing heart as he could not see the coast and the water was becoming rough. He was stung by jellyfish and he began to question the distance but continued swimming strongly. He stopped many times to look for the coast but could not make it out. Despite being told he was getting very close, only approximately 6 miles away, he called it a day. He was not showing any signs of tiredness. Just before he stopped his speed was the same as when he had started which was confirmed by the official observer. He had covered more than 2/3rds of the distance. The observer said he was quite confused as to why Sagar had stopped so many times given that whilst he was swimming he showed no signs of tiredness. After returning to the shore we were informed that several other swimmers had returned that day, unable to complete the crossing.
As a club we were very disappointed in the outcome but this task is deemed to be exceptionally tough. However Sagar made an extremely good effort and we are proud to have supported this event.