The Grand Dueling

This spring weekend was the enjoyable classic event held by Vic City Rowing Club called Dueling Over a Grand. It is one of my favorite events because the total amount of racing experience obtained is huge. For example, I had six races in 24hrs!  That almost DOUBLES my previous rowing racing portfolio.  The race itself is only over 1000m, hence a Grand, but in conditions that we had today it felt more like 1500m due to the strong head-cross wind.  The umpires even had a meeting in the morning regarding the safety of sending singles out in the wash because a few boats flipped first thing in the morning.  It is a double-knockout elimination style regatta, so that means I would have to loose twice to get dropped. Oh, and the winner gets $1000 and runner up is $250. Another motivator to not get bumped.  And I wasn't going to loose without a fight. 

Due to the conditions I felt I had a fairly ugly, choppy and all-around scattered racing and rowing technique. But, everyone is racing in the same water so I couldn't blame my (lack of) speed on that. It was my first experience in being able to row through a competitor in the middle of the race and a confidence booster at that. I had a great dogfight, not once but twice, with my pal Jamie Abbass.  He is a classy guy with many stories and always has a smile on his face. We were very close both races and within a few feet it was always hard to tell who reached the imaginary line first. I hope to race him again soon.  In the end I was knocked out (2nd loss) by Steve Van Knotseburg, a heavyweight sculler in my fourth race today.  It was going to be a huge uphill (headwind) battle with SNV and in the end he finished by over a length in front of me. I was spent! What a great event. 

Kevin Kowalyk boathouse slow-walk 

SNV setting up for race time

Final Results:   Fraser Berkhout edged out Kevin Kowalyk for the win this afternoon.  On the womens side my friend Rosie DeBoef held off Erica Shaw for the top prize. Congratulations.