So, after a solid performance at the March Olympic trials I was looking forward to getting some good training done, however just two weeks later we were informed that a selection of the lower ranked athletes who went to Olympic trials had to also do April trials. The April trials this year have been for European, World Universities and U23 World selection and we had been led to believe that if you did Olympic trials then you would be exempt from April. Two weeks before April trials we were told this was no longer the case, so we started doing some prep to get ready to race again.
My Leander teammate, Kristina Stiller, and I were ranked at the top of the female scullers that were entered to race and we knew it would be really competitive between the two of us but we also wanted to put as large a margin between us and the rest of the field as possible. Unfortunately a week before the trials I started coming down with a chest infection that kept me off training for 10 days and another week until I was back to full training. Although I was really disappointed not to be able to race, I knew that Tina would fly the pink (Leander Club) flag for both of us and she did, winning the trials by a healthy seven seconds in tough, slow conditions.
Based on our strong performances at Olympic trials, and Tina at April, we have been asked to train and race this summer in a double with, if we progress as expected, a view to racing at the European Championships in Varese, Italy in September of this year. This is great news for both of us because it gives us so much time to spend in the boat together and we have a real plan for the summer racing season. With such a long season ahead and being set in a boat early on it helps that we both get on well!
Now that I am over my illness training has been going well and Tina and I are enjoying having the luxury of time in the boat together so we can sort out our blade angles, technical focuses and play about with the order of where we sit in the boat. Although I love my Rihoy empacher single scull, it is nice to have some company in the boat after a long winter in my single!
The London Marathon
So last weekend I went to London to support friend and fellow Guernsey athlete Lee Merrien in his bid to run the Olympic 'A' qualification time for the marathon. Lee had a brilliant run, and in windy conditions managed to run a personal best time and finish as the top British man. Despite this he was a little over 90 seconds away from the qualification time and so missed out on Olympic selection. I am devastated for Lee, as he deserved a spot, he has worked his arse off (and every other little bit of fat!) and Olympic selection means the world to any athlete. A rower and photographer friend of mine, Nick Middleton was supporting his brother and managed to get some good photos of Lee which I will share when I manage to get my paws on them.
Support
We have had some brilliant support from various companies who are keen to help us on our route to the European Championships.
HUNTER BOOTS
Hunter Boots have given us both a pair of GORGEOUS Navy Brit wellies which we have been wearing with love and pride! Aren't they amazing?! We have always been very impressed with the Hunter wellies, and this British inspired pair seemed made for us! I am living in mine at the moment with all the showers we have been having.
HEADSWEATS
We have gotten some great hats and a visor from Headsweats, which we look forward to racing in. Tina has already raced in her visor and it was a great success by all accounts! My cat loves getting inside things, so my new visor was an obvious target for him :)
BUFFWEAR
We also got in contact with Buff, looking for a buff each to protect our necks/heads from the wind chill; I had been coveting one for a while. The team at Buff have been unbelievable and replied to us very quickly, stating that they would like to provide us with not just one buff each but many! Offering that we become brand ambassadors for them! This is very exciting, and we are testing out their new range of (brand new, unlaunched) technical kit for 2012, which I can reveal is AMAZING. The range of buffs on offer is beyond extensive and we are very lucky to have been given almost one of every kind so you will be seeing a lot of these :)
FAITH IN NATURE
Tina and I were thinking about the season and it looks like we will be very busy racing, both home and internationally so being girls, we wanted to make sure that we didn't look all raced out by the end of the season! We place a lot of faith in nature as we push our body to the limit time and time again. We rely on it to recover, repair and grow so we felt that the Faith in Nature brand with naturally sourced ingredients and no artificial colours or perfumes in it would best reflect our attitude to training our bodies. We are looking forward to using their deodorants, moisturiser and face wipes over the coming racing season.
Thank you so much to everyone who is contributing to our season, we are excited about racing and will keep you updated.
As always, Man Group, Guernsey Sports Commission's Rising Stars programme and Jeremy Rihoy at Rihoy and Sons are my main supporters, along with my parents of course!
New blog for the double is to be launched soon. I will let you know when it goes live so you can follow our progress directly there!
