Heats in the Snow

Day one of the 2011 NRC's is now over and an experience I will remember. There were many races all through the day from bright dark and early 8am to 4:30pm. The weather was in constant change from rain to shine snow and hail, sometimes all simultaneously. A steady West wind was gusty throughout the day and there was no way to predict the direction. Eric and I raced our pair at 1:54pm... or so we thought until a crew scratched and changed our heat into 6 boats with only the 1st place advancing onto the finals. The race was bumped up to 1:45pm, so we had to rush to get our 45min warm-up in. While finishing our warm up and getting into position for the start there was some confusion with another pair who didn't get the memo on the changed race times and were in our position. To make a short story long, we got a "yellow-card" due to our late entry into the starting gates, which Eric argued against and was promptly thrown out and the race continued on as nothing happened. Who knew someone could argue with an Umpire and they change their ruling... With that, comes Woelfl.

The race went just as planned! And we ended up pulling away from the group at 1200m in. With these results we don't race tomorrow (Saturday) and move straight to the finals on Sunday. What a relief and that concludes my first race in a pair (2-) (or pear...?)

My partner Eric has helped me immensely and constantly explains things that are probably elementary to him (and most other rowers) such as... You need your ID to launch your boat? Something that I didn't think would be necessary on the water, but as I find out from Eric before we lift the boat I need to run to my car and grab it.

 

Next race, Sunday @ ~11am. I'm excited to watch a day of racing tomorrow.

Bridge-town (Rose City)

Due to the many canals, lakes and rivers in the area there are countless antique bridges. On google maps I counted 11 within 4 km from Welland city centre. On the rowing-warm up course there are two! Many of these turn-of-the-century bridges are olde-style draw bridges because the large container ships needed to pass through the canal en route to the St. Lawrence seaway. For me, I like being around bridges, as I spent 4 years living in Bridgetown, USA aka Portland, OR, which by coincidence is also the "City of Roses" - but that is about it with the connections between the two places... I took a few shots below of the local bridges;

 

 

 

 

And yes, the locals like there bridges so much that there is a bridge model at the Historical Museum.

The Day Before

 

Practice Row Day 2 went well this morning! The storm last night blew in some chilly weather and precipitation. It dropped down to 6-8 C this morning. There was a cross/head wind for the morning row, and it was gusting both directions. It almost feels like we are in the mountains with an un-predictable wind direction. I feel, however, the small width of this body of water there is little chance of a cross wind producing any waves of concern. There is just over 6 lanes on this canal and it is arrow-straight.

The rest of the competitors arrive today to get in a practice row. The rowing location has a feeling of excitement building and I like it. Another day of hanging out and then the racing heats start tomorrow. See the racing order here.

Welland, Ontario - Arrival for Nationals

The arrival to Welland, Ontario was relatively routine with no problems. The Toronto 5:30pm rush-hour traffic on the 401 was expected but uneventful. I made a side trip to drop of my pair partner, Eric, at his parents house in St. Catherines to make sure he got home safe. I don't want anything to happen to that guy, especially in the next five days. The kitchen is stocked with food and everything is going as planned. Tomorrow we check to see if our boat arrived from Victoria safely and in one piece. The weather is decent right now, but as you can see below, it may get a bit cooler and more "seasonal" or typical. Tonight was very foggy all the way through from Hamilton to Welland. Hopefully it doesn't prevent us from rowing tomorrow morning.

For a quick refresher where Welland is located. It is on the Niagara Region of Southern Ontario. about 30 minutes from Niagara Falls and 30min from Hamilton. The rowing course is on an old arm of the Welland Canal, circa 1827. This map below is the training water, roughly 4km in length with a certified 2000m course on the south end.

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National Rowing Championships

Nov. 11-13 is the National Rowing Championships in Welland, Ontario. On an abandoned channel of the infamous century-old Welland canal. This is a very important regatta in selection to further teams/carding/personal growth. I have rowed here before and I'm exited for this familiarity.

For me, it is a bit of redemption from the finals at the PanAms. I want to show RCA that I have the abilities to finish in a top position. There is some work to do in addition to a 2km and 6km Erg test to be completed in the next two weeks.

My training has shifted slightly. Now we do a long morning double-workout and a shorter session of lifting weights or row in the afternoon. I hope my body holds up to the next line of training. I'm excited for the next few steps of this plan.


A write up in the local newspaper recently showed up on my door. I liked the article and it makes me feel a bit proud but also shy about this recent attention. The funny part is that it hints toward me being somewhat "old" at 28. First, I don't feel that way, and second I'm 29.

Results Welland May 28

The weekend in Welland turned out to be an eye opening experience. I feel it was a completely successful trip in all possibly ways.

Arriving into Toronto on the always lovely Red-eye flight from Victoria I was able to rent my car and pick up Coach Doug, all in 15minutes. We made a pit stop at Tim Hortons within 20min from Pearson International and were on the road making excellent time. Staying in the Niagara College dorms it was re-living college years, with my 64 yr old coach. The difference was that he was the one drinking all the booze...

Time trial Sat. AM I was third overall (that's including heavyweights) and 2nd lightweight. Semifinal heats were later Sat. afternoon and I ended up 3rd and continuing on to the "A" finals. In the Sunday morning finals I weighted in and was .4kg over... Another jog and pushups with all my clothes on. I passed with 73.96kg! .04 to spare.

The finals was a very close race and at 1000m to go I was just inches ahead in first place. Everyone had a strong push and I ended up 4th overall and 2nd Lightweight.

I was extremely happy with the results. I would like to have been first but another very quick lightweight, Travis King, was there to slide in ahead of me by just under 3 seconds.

This is all in hope to make the 2011 Senior National Team Canada for the Pan Am Games.

May 9 Radar Submission!

Today was the deadline for the May RADAR submission. This day will go down as the most anticipated and hyped day, in my experience, as a Rower. Now that I have submitted my "scores" to Rowing Canada, I have a giant burden of lead-weight off my back. Little did I know that most of the excess stress in my life right now was to do with a few "small" erg tests. I think, deep down I knew that this was culmination of 8months of kick-my ass hard work and actually a quantitative approach as "can I handle this shit."

Well, the scores are as follows:

Test Name Result Calculated Watts 500m Spilt Time Score
Weight (kg) 74 kilograms
Height (cm) 185 centimetres
Arm Span (cm) 190 centimetres
Peak Power (190 Drag Factor) 879 watts 01:13.6 *28
Peak Power (Testing Drag Factor) 788 watts 01:16.3 44
1 Minute 364 metres 625 01:22.4 47
2000 Meter 06:27:0 time 386 01:36.8 60
6000 Meter 20:33:0 time 323 01:42.7 73
60 Minute 16529 metres 271 01:48.9 25
Time Trial 2000 Meter (1x) 07:34:6 time 238 01:53.7 63


This totals up to.... drumroll please.... 340.
Now, this is very exciting - as the last RADAR submission I was at 248. But, still the recommended score for funding and National team invitations is 350 points.

As of this moment, about an hour after I found out the totals, I'm not sure of how this all goes down. Can the coaches go easy on me and be lenient or is it a hardened set rule that I need the extra 10 points to bring me to 350 total points.

Regardless, my flights are booked and I'm heading to the Welland Canal, Ontario in 18 days for a very important time-trial for further selections to larger Summer regattas representing Rowing Canada.