Back to the Grindstone

We had a couple of weeks rest after the regatta season then it was back to work.  We came back to training on the 6^th August and since then we have become at one with weights and ergo’s (rowing machines for you non rowers).  My weights have been going up and my ergo’s coming down so a good start to training.  Now September has arrived we should see the student's back to training and a few new members to the group.  Bring on squad bonding time!!

Finding his water wings

A good friend of mine has been desperate to try water rowing.  John McAvoy has been indoor rowing for 4 years now and holds British and World indoor rowing records.  He is one of the most driven and determined people I have had the pleasure to meet. 

On Sunday I took John out in a double for his first trip out in a rowing boat thanks to both Burton Leander Rowing Club and Trent Rowing Club.  We spent a while going up and down the club straight in the training boat much to the annoyance of the fishermen.  Well they will insist on a fishing competition in front of 2 rowing clubs.  We then spent some time going through rowing technique on the rowing machine.  Typical indoor rowers and the slightly funky style but at least he goes quick.  We then got to go out in a real rowing boat and rowed up towards the ferry bridge. 

Wasn’t bad for a first time on the water maybe next time we will be able to row together.  We'll make a water rower out of him yet. 

The next challenge is a 2k ergo test of which I get 30 seconds head start.

Home International Regatta

This year’s Home International Regatta was held in Cardiff bay over a 1500m course.  The weather god had been kind and granted us sunshine for the day.  Our first race of the day was to be in the 2- a race we were confident in after last weekend’s performance.  The Irish went hard of the start with us and Scotland just down on them.  We held on and pulled back the lead as they slowly drifted back in the pack.  The Scottish remained strong and pushed had to stay with us just half a length up.  With 250m to go I called for our finish.  We had a bit of a mishap and ended up in Scotland’s lane.  We were having trouble with the steering foot and so I had to ease off to get us back in lane.  The Scottish crew creased the opportunity and took off down the course.  Once we were straight in our lane we made the chase towards the Scottish crew but unfortunately the line came just meters early and we finished an inch down coming home in second place earning 3 points for England.

 We then boated in the 4- which had been gelling more over the past week and I defiantly think this boat class suited us more than the 4+.  We had no idea of our opposition we had never raced any of the boats before.  We knew the Irish would start strong all there crews seemed to start strong and slowly slip to the back so we knew we had to go out with them and wait for them to pay the price.  Cross winds at the start made it tricky to get aligned and the umpire seemed to take a long time between attention and go.  We started diagonal in the lane and made a bid for the welsh lane followed by the Irish lane and finally straightened up into our lane after we made sure once more we didn’t prefer the Welsh water.  Deciding we had done enough touring of the bay we made our way down our own lane pushing through the Welsh who had been dropped with us.  We went hunting clawing back inches from the Irish.  We made the call to clear the Irish crew and we were left with just the Scottish crew to chase.  The Scottish crew had a comfortable lead leaving us in second place with another 3 points for the team.

 All medal hopes were pinned on the 8+ with the 4+ girls from Molesey BC who had won the Gold in the 4+ earlier in the day.  We had had one practice outing when we arrived on the Friday which seemed to go ok although it was that rough it was hard to tell.  There was some awesome power in the 8+ we just needed to care of the job at hand.  We came of the start pretty level across the playing field with the welsh taking the early advantage.  We clawed our way seat by seat back at the Welsh and with 250m to go we had a length on Wales who intern had half a length over Ireland and Scotland.  The Irish suddenly decided to take second place of the Welsh.  From behind the sea of red the green lycra of the Irish stormed through to take half a length lead over the Welsh.  Finally we had medalled adding to the success of winning the Senior Women’s trophy.  We also won both the Junior Men’s and Women’s trophies our overall points meant we also won the Team trophy. 

A good day for Team England.

British Rowing Championships

With heavy rainfall leading up to the British Rowing Championships it was looking unlikely that the event would run ahead as planned.  The lake was flooded and the fields which normally accommodate trailers and parking were rather waterlogged.  A sudden change in the weather front helped clear the excess water from the lake and rain held of just long enough to dry some of the fields for parking.

During the championships the sun shone over Nottingham for a change and some great racing was had from NRC athletes.  I was racing in both a 4+ and a 2- both of which had heats on the Saturday.  We raced in the 4+ first but unfortunately drew the fastest heat missing out on a place in the final but beating the winners of the other heat by some 12 seconds.  We could still make the final by going through the rep on the Sunday morning.  With a tight turn around between event we prepared to boat for the 2- only to find out that 2 boats had scratched from the event and it had been re-drawn into a straight final on the Sunday.  This was a welcomed relief as we were both quite tired from the 4+’s race.

We achieved our place in the 4+ final by winning the rep on Sunday morning.  We then took the chance to get some down time before the final.  We had hopes of medalling in the final despite only a few training outing’s.  Despite being good athletes individually sometimes crews just don’t gel together and we found ourselves outside the medal standings.  With more time together I’m sure this could have been a different outcome but a 4+ is a boat we never train in.  We entered this event due to the change in schedule at this year’s event.  There were only 3 events offered for senior women the 2-, 4+ and the 1x.  The remaining event will be contested at the Diamond Jubilee Regatta in October.  This is a trial project with the aim of moving the Senior British Rowing Championships to October in future years.

Me and Lindsay didn’t have chance to register the disappointment of the 4+ results.  We hit the landing stage and as soon as we had racked the boat it was time to boat in the 2-.  We had just 20 minutes to make our way back to the start line for our final race.  We have never raced the 2- together and had no idea of our speed.  All we knew was we had to do our best to stay in one lane.  Neither of us was particularly confident at steering although Lindsay proved a little more proficient at it than me.  By a little a mean rather a lot and it was decided that she would steer.  The 2- is one of the hardest boats to row with 2 oarsmen or women with only one blade each.  You are totally responsible for your side and although the most challenging it is probably one of the most satisfying to get right. 

We got to the start line rather worse for wear the lungs still burning and the lactate flowing.  Needless to say we got dropped off the start with Cardiff University and Strathclyde Park taking the early lead.  We were still in the race only 2 seconds behind Cardiff and level with Strathclyde Park at the 500m mark.  We reached the halfway mark as a level pack and called at Lindsay to clear the field.  We made our move and pushed on for clear water.  This was the gear we were looking for and we pressed through the field to open up a 9 second gap over the other 2 crews and Thames who had now worked their way back into the mix.  We moved on again in the final 500m as we made our last bid for the finish line with an advantage of 12 seconds over Thames in second place. 

From our results both the 4+ and the 2- was selected to represent England at this year’s Home International regatta at Cardiff Bay.  The 4+ however was to change boats to the 4- and go coxless so we could race in both events.  The 4- would also join forces with Molesey BC racing in the 4+ and the together would form the 8+.  Come on England!!!

Ups and Downs

So I don’t seem to have written much about this season so far.  It’s been a hard season and very stop start.  At the beginning of December I was coming down with a cold which following a 2000m ergometer test turned into sinusitis.  That was just the start as I proceeded through December and January with cold after cold and training through this period proved challenging.  I would just start to get back into full training when another cold would take hold and slow my progress.  I then took a couple of week’s complete recovery to try and kill this run of colds in early January.  As hard as we find training some days it amazing how hard not training is. 

Towards the end of January I was back in training again making sure we built back into it slowly so as not to disrupt my immune system yet again.  In early February I moved in to the pair for Final trials.  We first had to do an assessment in March to secure our place at final trials.  This involved a 2000m ergometer test and 2 x 1500m races in the pair.  Although myself and pairs partner Fiona were disappointed with our ergometer times it was still enough to earn our place at Final trials. 

The pair had been going well and we went to trials with high hopes.  Unfortunately this was not to be.  We did the time trial on the Friday and although neither of us could point out what went wrong we just knew we had posted a slow time.  The reason for this became apparent the following day in the Final when for the last 600m of the race we dramatically slowed and we veered off course.  Despite managing to finish the race Fiona had collapsed behind me.  We nearly went for a swim and because we only have one blade it was impossible for me to get us to safety on our own.  After talking Fi to the bank we got out and waited for the medic to arrive.  After what seemed like hours her condition had worsened and she was air lifted to hospital. 

The following week is a bit of blur sick with worry I couldn’t sleep.  I finally started to feel less worried when she was released from hospital.  They had done all the major tests and they had all come back negative.  She was released home despite the fact she was still unable to see.  They are still unsure as to the root cause of this but Fi is now back training and racing after 8 weeks of recovery.  I found it very hard to get into my training following this as it had a huge impact on me physiologically.

After 2-3 weeks I started to feel more settled although there was still the worry of what we were going to race.  Dez was planning on racing a quad but at this time only 3 athletes to race in it while others were still tied up with trials.  We finally got a quad together at the end of May and had our first race at Met Regatta.  We got off to a good start leading the first 500m by a 5 second margin.  We then held of the chasing crew rather than continue to open that margin but it was a job done and a win for our first race as a crew.

We then went on to race at Henley Women’s Regatta where we meet stiff opposition from Leander and Vesper, USA.   It’s run in a knock out series of rounds with 2 crew competing against each other to make the next stage of the competition.  We had a great race on the Saturday against a Tideway Scullers crew wining with an easy verdict.  This but us through to meet Leander and despite getting a good start and coming out of the island ahead they powered through and dominated the race from then in.  This could be one of the crew selected to represent at the European Championships.  The then went on to win beating Vesper by 1-3/4 lengths.

We then seat raced for the Henley Royal quad with 5 athletes for 4 seats someone was going to miss out.  Unfortunately that was me with only 2 seconds separating 3 athletes the decision was made to put Fiona into the quad.  As yet I have not had the opportunity to race at Henley Royal Regatta and being taken out of the quad was gutting for me.  You have to move on and move forward so I trained hard while they were away competing.  I added a lot of cross training into the mix which I enjoyed.  It added variety into training for that short space of time.  After all a change is as good as a rest.

We then made the change in to sweep boats (each rower has one blade) for the British Rowing Championships.  This year they have split the events over the normal championships and the Diamond Jubilee Regatta in October.  I was put in the coxed four and the pair this time with a new pair’s partner.

Fullers Fours Head of the River

Today we got to row amongst some world class athletes paving the way and steeling all the pennants I may add.  To be the best you must beat the best and what better way to do so than race some of GB’s finest athletes. 

We were set of as the first women’s crew and start with the Leander A crew right on our stern.  They had made a substitution since my last post with Emily Taylor being subbed for Rachel Gamble-Flint a promising U23 who represented GB at the U23 World Championships last year.  They put the pressure on from the start and went for the overtake before Barnes Bridge we held them well although it was always inevitable that they would lose us you hold onto their speed for as long as you can.  Coming through the bridge our bow was still in close proximity to their stern, what was to meet us on the other side could only be described as carnage. 

The Women’s Elite 4x’s are set off behind the Men’s IM1 4x’s and with no minimum point limit some of them were pretty novice.  For those who don’t understand the points system each time we win a summer regatta we are awarded a point on our racing licence which then dictates the level at which you can race.  It goes on the crew average and you are able to race above you status just not below.  Leander A had to make their way through these crews ahead of us which you would have hoped would have provided us with a nice path through the wreckage.  Nope we though wrong rather than stay out of the way they then moved back onto the racing line only to have move again causing a lot of wash.

After overtaking several crews we then picked up a crew from HSBC rowing club who refused to abide by the rules and let the faster moving crew take the racing line.  We had a collision just before Hammersmith Bridge which caused us to stop as they erratically cut in front of our bows.   They steered in close on many occasions and we had to tussle with them all the way down the Hammersmith straight.  The final straw came when we reached the Black Buoy and deciding they didn’t like being so close steered their boat over our stern pair’s blades.  This once again caused us to stop while we tried to retrieve blades.  Once we managed to get free of them we had a 500m straight in which to salvage what we could.

It’s hard to know how to handle this kind of emotion.  If you perform poorly because you did not row your best you can accept it you can look at what you did well and what you need to work on.  If you mess up and catch a crab or hit something you accept it and you move on.  It’s hard to accept that another crew cost you your race by not obeying the racing rules.  We were never going to win or at least we shouldn’t have racing a boat with 3 world champions in but you always want to come second and even better a close second.  The HSBC crew may incur a time penalty or a disqualification but it will not alter our time or our disappointment.

What Does it Take to Become the Best

Winning is easy all you have to do is beat the opposition put in front of you at that particular race.  To become the best however is somewhat different.  To become the best you must beat the best and we have been provided with a great opportunity this weekend.  On Saturday our squad will race at Fuller’s Fours Head of the River, and I will be racing in the Women’s Elite 4x.  We will be set off first with the Leander A crew hunting us down. 

This is a crew who are amongst the best of British rowers.  Both Debbie Flood and Frances Houghton form part of the British Women’s 4x who won silver in Beijing 2008 and were gold medallists at the 2010 World Championships.  Anna Watkins despite serious setbacks with injury this year retained her World Championship title in the Women’s 2x winning Gold in 2010 and 2011.  Emily Taylor makes up the forth seat in this boat and is a strong part of the Women’s sweep team.  She won Silver with the W8+ and the World cup in Munich and narrowly missed out on a seat at the world cup flying out as reserve for the team.

This is not the only boat with World class athletes with Annie Vernon and Ro Bradbury making an appearance in the Leander B crew.  Imperial Collage will also see boat with GB internationals Mel Wilson and Laura Greenhalgh.

This race may be stacked out with international rowers but by no means is it one to shy away from.  Come Saturday our crew will be sat on the start race faces at the ready.  We are ready to go all out to beat the best as that is the only way to become the best.

Do I Actually Miss Boston?

Following Nottingham Autumn Head my slight cold has now turned into sinusitis.  This is not the news I wanted the week leading up to trials.  I have been on antibiotics since Monday and although I am starting to feel better it’s a little too late.  I did everything possible to try and get better ready for the weekend but after doing a 500m piece on Friday it was decide that I would hand in my medical exception.  Congestion does not aid breathing… 

I was so up for the trials as everything has been aimed at getting a good result here.  I am gutted that I didn’t get to go and race but very happy for those in the squad that have achieved personal bests on the 2000m ergo test today.  I wish them all the best for the 5000m water trial tomorrow.

For now I just have to get well and back to full training but bring on December trials!!!  Next on the agenda is Fullers Fours Head on 5^th November so time for some crew bonding.