More than 600 rowers race in gig championships

Each team is made up of three men, three women and a coxswain

Gig rowers from across the country met in Saltash for the Mixed Championships 2024.

More than 600 rowers entered the event on Saturday, hosted by Caradon Gig Club as part of the Saltash Regatta.

They made up 100 crews of three men, three women and a cox, battling it out on the river Tamar, the club said.

Claire Tripp from the Cornish Pilot Gig Association said: "Gig rowing is one of a few sports that enable men and women to compete together."

More than 100 teams battled it out at the event

She added: "This format sometimes throws up surprising results and can mean fathers and daughters, mothers and sons along with husbands and wives rowing in the same boat."

She said the differences in rowing style between men and women meant a win could depend on the ability to "blend techniques".

She said the event was a "big community show" and a "great chance for everyone to get together".

Claire Tripp said the mixed teams could throw up surprising results

What is gig rowing?

Pilot gigs are wooden six-oared craft used for recreational and competitive rowing events.

From the 1700s gigs were used to carry pilots out to visiting ships.

The tradition of racing was born because the first gig to get its pilot out to the ship got the job.

All modern gigs are built to the measurements of one gig - Treffry - which was built by Peters of St Mawes in 1838.

Steve Kent, a founding member of the Saltash-based Caradon Gig Club said there had been a "big two-week build-up" to the event, which had been a "whole club effort".

He said mixed races "made a change" from rowing with all-male crews.

"I row with my daughters, I row with my wife - and we don't fall out too much which is great."

Cornish Pilot Gigs are 32ft (9.8m) long open wooden boats rowed by six crew and steered by a coxswain.

There are now about 8,000 rowers in 90 clubs across the UK, Europe and America.

Ms Tripps said the event had benefited from the Good Growth Fund - with Cornwall and Isles of Scilly allocated £137m by the government for local investment until March 2025.