I hope you managed to see some of the World Rowing Championships and World Athletics Championships on the BBC recently. The quality of racing was, as always, incredibly high and both championships were completely and utterly enthralling. I love the emotion that makes sport what it is. When the stakes are high, when people have devoted their lives to the perfection of technique and attainment of ultimate physical fitness, you can see plainly the utter exhilaration or devastation on the faces of the athletes. The emotion that is invested through years of training and personal sacrifices makes the winning and losing mean that much more. I found myself caught in a whirlwind of emotions as I felt for every single athlete out there. I was at times laughing, whooping and cheering, then in an instant I was gripping the arm of the chair I was sat in and, next, on the edge of tears, either in elation or feeling their crushing disappointment.
Watching a major championships helps to remind me why I’m doing this. I feel it’s often easy to lose sight of the bigger picture; we get bogged down in individual sessions, training like an elite athlete, to become an elite athlete but forgetting why exactly we’re doing it. For me specifically, it’s not to get a personal best on my 2k, it’s not to be admired by slower people, it’s not for the piece of metal they give you on the podium. This game is all about winning and the feeling of winning, and seeing the culmination of countless hours, days, months and years of training in one performance which overshadows all others. Simply we do this for the emotion.
I’ve spent the summer pouring all my emotion into a new venture…making myself a sweep rower for the European women’s eight. It has eventually paid off and I am feeling confident and powerful in the boat. Yesterday we were entered into the European Rowing Championships and I was selected for the three seat in the boat. The championships will be held in Plovdiv, Bulgaria on the 16-18th September. We leave on Wednesday, race for lanes on the Friday and the final is on Sunday. There are six boats entered in our event and it is a very strong field, including the unchanged Romanian senior women’s eight who competed at the World Championships in Bled, Slovenia, last weekend and in coming fourth narrowly missed out on the bronze medal as our GB senior women’s eight surged to an incredible finish. (senior GB women's eight pictured in Bled below)
The European Championships can be followed on the world rowing website, and is usually covered by a local television station although I am not sure where/whether you will be able to see this. I am very excited to have been selected for the European Rowing Championships and cannot wait to get out and race.
It has been a long season for us, as most athletes finished their season between two and six weeks ago and are now well into their winter season. I have now been training for 53 consecutive weeks, and am looking forward to the break after racing. A bit of travelling and a few much needed days at home should revive me for starting on a fresh season. It really will be a fresh start too because I am changing clubs this year and will be starting at Leander club. This is an exciting prospect and one which will bring new challenges, opportunities and complications I am sure!
