For Pete's Sake, Gant!

Tomorrow, Saturday, 14 of May, it is time for the 2nd annual Gant Boat Race on Djurgårdsbrunnsviken in Stockholm. As the name of the races says, the clothing company Gant is sponsoring these races between the Swedish "prep schools" Sigtuna and Lundsberg. The regatta area opens at 11 a.m. and the opening ceremony is at 12:30 p.m., and the first race starts at 1 p.m.

Last year's races seem to have been very successful and I do think it is great that the sport of rowing is getting attention in Sweden; I even believe that the Swedish Rowing Association gave the organisers of the regatta a helping hand when it came to safety on the water, etc.

Reading the clothing company's special web site about the rowing races - it's in Swedish, but click here if you would like to have a look - it is embarrassing to read the "Swinglish", because not only is the company unaware what the boat types are called in Swedish, it's a mismatch in English, too - what on earth is, for example, "quad sweep"? I don't know, but I would have loved to be in Stockholm to see this boat class!

Can someone from the Swedish Rowing Association, please help the ignorant organisers. This is, you see, the second year Gant is making the same mistakes. I understand that the rowing communities all over the world, whether it is a small rowing nation like Sweden, or a larger one like the USA, is dying to get all the attention it can, but don't be afraid to tell clothing companies like Gant and Brooks Brothers, and other sponsors to please do things right...

Rowing - The Preppiest Of Sports?

One of this year's sponsors of the Head of the Charles is the American clothing company Brooks Brothers who held a cocktail party in one of their stores in Boston the other day to celebrate the re-publishing of the Official Preppy Handbook from 1980, now as True Prep. It seems rowing now is the preppiest of sports, which Brooks Brothers shows in an ad, which you can view below. This inevitably brings to mind the Gant Rowing Race which was held in Stockholm in May between two of Sweden's best known private schools. In this case the Gant clothing company sponsored the event and dressed up the crews which can be seen in the 'race video', which, of course, was more like an ad for the company. With one major difference, the youths rowing in the Gant race video are actually the real rowers, not hired models.

Here is the Brooks Brothers video:



And here is the Gant video:

A Swedish Henley Regatta?

On 17 May, I had an entry about the first Gant Rowing Race which was going to be held on 22 May on Djurgårdsbrunnsviken in Stockholm. The race, which was actually six races, between Sigtunaskolan Humanistiska Läroverket (SSHL) and Lundsbergs skola seems to have been a great success. Under sunny skies, SSHL won the men’s single and double, and the women’s single and double, while Lundsberg handled the bigger boats better, with two victories in the men’s coxed four and the women’s coxed four.

I have just watched the ‘race video’, which is posted on the clothing company’s web site, and one can clearly see that it was a well-attended event, almost a little like Henley, when it comes to the well-dressed gents and toffs, the ladies’ hats, the drinks (however, no Pimm’s!), but without the same rowing standard of the crews. In this case, the latter really does not matter, as long as the crews and the spectators were having fun.

Of course, this being the Gant Rowing Race, the race video is more of a commercial for the company’s cloths than an actual race video.

Breathing Life Back Into An Old Tradition

Gant, the international company of clothing and accessories, has gone into the rowing business.

On Saturday 22 May, the first Gant Rowing Race is to be held on the waters of Djurgårdsbrunnsviken in Stockholm between Sweden’s most prominent boarding schools, Sigtunaskolan Humanistiska Läroverket and Lundsbergs skola. Although, these schools have their roots from a model of English boarding schools, in a press release from Gant’s office in Stockholm, the Gant Rowing Race is inspired by the annual boat race between the two Ivy League universities on the American east coast, Yale and Harvard. This, of course, is due to Gant being a brand of American heritage, launched in New Haven, Connecticut in 1949.

Beginning at 1:00 p.m. there will be three races for men and women in single scull, double scull, and quadruple scull, or coxless fours (the press release was a little vague on the latter boat types). The course on the bay of Djurgårdsbrunnsviken is around 800 metres from the Nobel Park to the waters outside the maritime museum, Sjöhistoriska museet. In 1912, the Olympic rowing regatta was held on Djurgårdsbrunnsviken, but the course was then 2,000 metres.

As Gant is now organizing this event, the company’s web site states that “a limited edition collection of rowing-inspired clothes will be launched in conjunction with the race.” The press release also says “Historically, Gant has always drawn its inspiration and gained influences from the old classic Ivy League sports. By celebrating one of the world’s most graceful and classic sports in this way, we are breathing life back into the old traditions.”

You will find interviews with the crews, training videos, and more information about the race by clicking here.