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RAFT RACE<br />
The Battle of Southease Bridge<br />
Rob Williams, a dry-lining contractor, is in <strong>Lewes</strong><br />
Rugby Club’s raft race team, competing this year for<br />
the second time. He is also involved with organising<br />
the event through <strong>Lewes</strong> Round Table.<br />
What was last year’s race like? It was interesting.<br />
We decided it would be a great event to take our<br />
overseas players on, and they thought it was the best<br />
thing ever. We had a few beers on the way, had a<br />
great time. We came last and did a bit of swimming<br />
in the river...<br />
Did you get hit by any eggs? Loads, but it’s all part<br />
of the fun.<br />
Have you got any defence strategies for this<br />
time? No, not really, just to throw as much stuff<br />
back as possible.<br />
So you’ve got a supply of eggs... De�nitely, this<br />
year we’ve built a beer fridge and an egg/�our cupboard<br />
on the raft.<br />
When you arrive at Southease bridge, it gets a<br />
bit dangerous, doesn’t it? There’s 300 people waiting,<br />
and you drift round the corner, and then you<br />
see all these people, there’s just silence, silence and<br />
then carnage and all you can do is just drift into it...<br />
That’s quite fun; breaks up the journey anyway.<br />
Did you see any spectacular failures last year?<br />
I’ve been safety of�cer for the raft race for about<br />
eight years, and I’ve seen some pretty bad rafts. One<br />
was made out of ladders, which really wasn’t very<br />
good. They had a very strict, I don’t know what he<br />
was, a scoutmaster or something, ordering these<br />
WWW.VI VA LEWES .CO M<br />
RAFTING<br />
poor teenagers about, and it was the worst raft I’ve<br />
ever seen. It didn’t make it.<br />
How did you build your raft? We haven’t really<br />
started yet; we’ve done about one afternoon. Basically<br />
it’s two hulls. We’ve put a frame on it, and<br />
then we’re going to bond it with �breglass, and then<br />
spend two weeks tarting it up.<br />
Where did you get the materials? The hulls are<br />
from eBay, they cost ten quid, and the ply’s from my<br />
yard.<br />
I don’t suppose you’ve tested whether it �oats<br />
yet... No. That’s part of the fun for the day. It’s what<br />
we did last year. We got stuck in South Street. We<br />
were about an hour late and didn’t know whether it<br />
was going to �oat until the last minute. We’ve always<br />
got a bit of gaffer tape on hand.<br />
Have you got some fancy dress in mind? We’re<br />
not quite sure yet, but there’s a theme of children’s<br />
toys and we’ll be partaking, with some lurid coloured<br />
out�ts.<br />
Are there any teams that take it really seriously?<br />
All of them apart from us! They did the winners’<br />
presentation before we �nished up last year... There’s<br />
about four teams that race properly every year, and<br />
then people like us who don’t take it too seriously.<br />
Interview by Steve Ramsey<br />
It might be too late to sign up (check on 01825 722225<br />
or stuart@stuart-walker.co.uk), but you can always<br />
watch (and throw cake ingredients). The race starts on<br />
the Ouse by South Street at 1.30pm on Sunday 14th.<br />
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