Saturday, August 23, 2008 9:55 PM
Curtin- All Saints row!it was a great day out there at champion lakes today. the sun was great and the winds werent as bad as the other few races we've all been to. the food stand was up and running (appealing appetizers- cakes and biscuits), with the sasauge sizzle heating things up. the tent was set up and so was the umpire's stand.
the first race started early at 10.00am, with the men's C grade singles all pumped up to start the day good. both me and galatee came early to have a training session before our women's D grade doubles at 11.15am. we couldnt find a right time to train since the winds werent great on both occasions we were down for. the change of seating didnt really work out great at first- we were so accustomed to our usual habits as a stroke and bow pair in thr prion.
we were off the waters an hour earlier due to the commencement of races in that area. we were both not confident of what our new roles should be, me as a leader and galatee as a follower this time. this time, things would be different. we started on time, and galatee managed to check the boat into position for the umpire to start the race, the first 20 strokes, were hard, followed by long strides in between till the 250m mark, where we did hard strokes all the way.
the balance in the boat was good and the boat's directions were fairly accurate- thus not having to panick about going off course; D with the speed and power settling in by the 250m, we made the 5th, missing 4th place by 1.08 of a second. damm, so close- maybe a lil more power should do the trick:D and 6th place came in 2 mins later.
coach jo was so proud of us- 5th place was hard to believe for a 4-month old team what became for us, from a team that capsized 100m from the end point to a 5th place, missing 4th by mere seconds would put us on the books for the most improved women's doubles team. D grade was no feat for us, we beat 6th position (2 years exp) with a 4-month old exp.
the next race was a women's D grade quad, with a cox at 12.50pm. we missed our race and start. before us, were 2 other consecutive teams that were using the same boat as we were, the osphrey. the changeover just didnt make it for our timing since the last team that used it came in last in their race. by the time we made our way to the course route, race 29 had already started. we started race 30 late by 200m since the umpire didnt want us colliding into other boats since it wasnt our race to begin with.
the best part of all was the confusion which arose when our card number wasnt showing 3, instead it carried the number 7. i guess that could be one of the reasons as to why none of the umpires noticed that we were missing from our lane in race 29, since there was already a 7 there. as to who changed our card number last minute, we have no idea.
leading from the stroke is scary/half of the time, i was wondering if the rest at the back could keep up with my timing and also if i were to give up before any of them would. aden was a really good cox. he kept the directions in line with the marker bouys and the motivational support was really effective esp. at the last 500m.
although it wasnt our race, we rowed race style, since everyone was going to watch us, coming in last of that race. imagine the number of eyes looking at your strokes- there's where we lengthened out to included time to check for little details such as is the blade going in 90 degrees?
we stayed for the day to load to the boats back onto the trailer and then into the boat club. the last race ended at 5.25pm while the packing up lasted till 6.00pm. i only managed to get home by 7.50pm after everything. i bet i'll sleep well tonight.
i have to.
i have training tmr, its sunday if you remembered and trainings start at 8.30am.
plus, mum and the rest went for church already, leaving me alone for church after training.
