Success at Nationals

After all the planning, training, racing, and waiting I have come away with then results I wanted. I feel that the actual race in the finals was not very clean, efficient or glorious but the job was taken care of.

Due to the previous days' windy conditions the race organizers decided to re-shuffle the finals to get the 'A-finals' over first. My race was at 8:42am, so that means weigh-in at 6:42. It is cold and dark at that time in the morning as you can see below

 

 

After the weigh in the sun came up but the wind did not subside. Right from first light in the morning the wind caused anxiety, as it was blowing SW 30-35km/hr. A nice tailwind is beneficial for fast times but if it gets too fast the waves and whitecaps can disrupt a normal rhythm.

In the race, I mis-placed two or three strokes [crab] and almost stopped the boat during the race. The last one was within the final 5 meters of the race and we were almost passed by the lane 4 team. In the end we got the rhythm back enough to pull through with a win, but it wasn't pretty. Another 5 meters after the finish line, I again misplaced my oar, and dumped us into the frigid Welland Canal - in front of the grand-stand and all.

A nice write up of the NRC Finals from Rowing Canada Avirons.

My mother and sister, Lisa, made the trip to surprise me for the weekend! I was shocked to see them at the boathouse after my race. They also picked up my cousin Steph in Hamilton on the way to Welland. Thanks!