Yanks take on Brits in river race
for Hockwold school fund-raiser
By Ron Jensen, U.K.
bureau
Ron Jensen / Stars and Stripes
The crew of the Stars and Stripes powers the vessel along the Little Ouse River Sunday at
Hockwold, England. The race raised money for the local primary school. Several American
families live in the town and have become part of the local scene. |
HOCKWOLD, England — The colonists and the British were at it
again Sunday.
This time, however, the British had the home-turf advantage for a
naval battle that wreaked havoc on the waves and filled the air with missiles.
When the smoke cleared, the Yanks were vanquished, thereby bringing
disgrace to their 260 million countrymen.
And in words not likely to inspire patriotism in any schoolboy, one
of America’s combatants, Senior Master Sgt. Ray Townsend, declared at the
battle’s end, “My arms are aching. My arms are burning.”
Fortunately, the fight was all in good fun, a raft race on the Little
Ouse River in Hockwold, where several American families share the town of ancient stone
houses and crooked streets with about 1,500 British residents.
“The villagers treat us like one of their own,” said
Townsend, of the 493rd Fighter Squadron at nearby RAF Lakenheath.
Tech Sgt. Tom McEntee, of the 100th Aircraft Generation Squadron at
RAF Mildenhall, agreed.
“The first time I went across the street [to The Red Lion pub],
they were very open, very nice,” he said. “The big thing is getting out and
getting involved. The rewards are there if you take the time.”
When the idea arose for the race to raise money for the local primary
school, where Americans in the village often send their children, there was no doubt the
Yanks would compete.
“There was no way we couldn’t enter,” said Townsend,
who has lived in Hockwold for 15 months. “We’re part of the community.”
Phil Rusted, a Briton and one of the race organizers, welcomed the
U.S. participation.
“The more Americans involved, the better,” he said.
“It’s always nice to beat the Americans.”
Townsend, McEntee and others collected a few 55-gallon barrels,
welded them together and created a vessel they christened Stars and Stripes.
Outfitted with bags labeled tea, a reference to the Boston Tea Party
of that other British-American struggle, and fitted, too, with a miniature Statue of
Liberty, the Stars and Stripes did battle with four other rafts as nearly 300 people stood
on the banks and cheered.
A drizzle fell on the cool overcast afternoon when the motley armada
set off. No sooner had the first paddle been dipped in the slow-moving Ouse than flour
bombs and eggs were launched.
Raft crews fired them at each other and even the spectators on shore
tossed flour bomb after flour bomb at the paddlers.
“Last one,” one strong-armed onlooker said. “I’ll
save it for the Americans.”
Somehow the rafts — four of them, anyway — made it 400
yards downstream and turned around, paddling against the gentle but steady current on the
return leg of the race.
The Stars and Stripes finished third, but the competition was not the
point. The idea was to have fun, and judging by the comments from the exhausted, drenched
and flour-covered participants, that mission was accomplished.
“It was grueling, but it was enjoyable,” said Master Sgt.
Charles Mascilli, also of the 100th AGS.
And Townsend, sore arms and all, was already thinking ahead.
“This was a good learning experience for next year,” he
said.
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