Archive Hour: Sir Steve Redgrave lights up Loch Lomond

LOCH Lomond has seen many legends but few are as renowned as Sir Steve Redgrave CBE.

The five times Olympic champion rower came to Balloch to take part in the Dragon Boat Challenge on Sunday.

He returned to the water with a team of fundraisers to compete in the 250 metre course.

The heroic sportsman, who competed in the Bobath boat told the Reporter he was looking forward to meeting his new team.

He said: “My team has already been out there, and they’ve done the third fastest time so far. There is one place being auctioned and one raffled.”

Sir Steve, 42, was keen to point out the difference between rowing boats and dragon boats though, which is possibly why, even with him on board, the team didn’t clinch the gold and finished fourth overall.

He said: “Rowing, you go backwards, and the oars are longer and fixed, where as dragon boats are similar to canoes. It’s more like canoeing.”

After such an illustrious career which saw him win golds in Los Angeles, Seoul, Barcelona, Atlanta and Sydney, the six foot five powerhouse returned to Britain and set his sights on fund-raising, establishing the Sir Steve Redgrave Charitable Trust.

He said: “When I came back from the games I was involved with a number of charities.

“We felt we would try and raise money for children’s charities. Bobath was one of them. They have got centres in all of the home nations. They were struggling a bit.”

As he fired a field gun to begin the races, Steve, who himself has had to contend with diabetes and colitis, was besieged by autograph hunters and people wanting the picture taken with him.