Get set for the Portsmouth Pull on 28th September

Entries are still open for this rowing race around Portsmouth Harbour that raises funds for Oarsome Chance, a local charity who engage and educate young people through sport, boat building and coastal rowing. Oarsome Chance work with young people from 9 to 19 in Gosport, Portsmouth and Havant.

Rowing route: The 10km (5.3 nautical mile) course for the Portsmouth Pull is a lap of Portsmouth Harbour, starting and ending at our Oarsome Chance HQ at St Vincent College on the Gosport Peninsula. Your team will row against a backdrop of iconic landmarks such as the Spinnaker Tower and Nelson’s flagship HMS Victory in the world-famous naval harbour, home to the UK’s largest aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth. Then past the busy continental ferry port towards the medieval Portchester Castle and down past Hardway, where troops embarked in 1944 for the D-Day landings, before passing back under Gosport’s Millennium Bridge for a sprint finish.

The boats: The skiffs, two of which were built in our workshop by young people on our programmes, are 23-ft wooden rowing boats propelled by four three-metre long oars. Each boat accommodates up to six people (four rowers and a reserve, plus a cox supplied by Oarsome Chance).

Eligibility criteria: To take part you must be aged 16 or over on the day of the event, and you must also be sufficiently fit and healthy to be able to participate safely. No prior rowing experience is required. There is no upper age limit.

For full details and a registration pack please contact [email protected]