November GB Trials

Well I think you're familiar with the weather we have been having recently? Very wet and windy! Henley should be renamed 'Henley in Thames'



A house near the river in Henley has gained a lake

Due to the adverse weather conditions the water aspect of GB's November trials was cancelled, but the ergo still went ahead. Details here

However, we still had to make the 7hr round trip from Henley to Boston, Lincs, to do the ergo as per normal.  I will try not to complain BUT...this is ridiculous! Sometimes we have 'assessed ergos' where the athletes/coaches have to submit the scores so it was not inconceivable for GB Rowing to suggest athletes do the ergo at their home clubs. A long drive is never good preparation for an ergo test but when we have to go up to Boston to do a water trial, it makes sense that we do them together. However, with no water trial and many perfectly good ergos at home, I rather resent the hour I spent in the car for each minute that I raced on the ergo! On top of that, the cost of driving, the hotel the night before, dinner out in Boston and the £10 trials fee...costs that many struggling athletes could do without.

Despite the rant, once you have been given some information like this there is nothing left but to get on with it.  I won't change the minds of the decision makers so there was nothing to do but try and relax, and enjoy as much of the experience as possible! I carpooled with friends so the journey was as good as can be, and we had dinner at a lovely Italian restaurant.  I had felt more prepared for the water trial than the ergo, but once I heard the news I had to switch into full ergo mode.  I wasn't feeling very confident after our ergo prep, but I put myself on the line and suprised myself, and my coaches I think(!) by just sneaking under the 7min mark.

I was really pleased with my result, and though I was 4 seconds away from my personal best, that is pretty normal for this time in the season.  I also beat a few of the GB squad girls, so it's a step in the right direction.  Now, back to some solid land training whilst we wait for the water to recede!

ALSO VOTE

KATHERINE GRAINGER FOR SPOTY

on Dec 16th we vote by phone

 

Ana Watkins has been heading up the #katherineforspoty campaign on twitter and some of her tweets have made me get emotional already...

 

Anna Watkins‏@watkinsteamgb

KG facts: The nicest thing she's ever done for me is promise she would wait for me to recover when I hurt my back #katherineforspoty

 

and in awe...

 

Anna Watkins‏@watkinsteamgb

KG has won a world championship medal in EVERY OLYMPIC BOAT CLASS that's 5 different events, scull and sweep #katherineforspoty

 

 

 

Fours Head winners 2012!

Well, Leander had a cracking weekend at the Fullers Head of the River Fours race.

Out of near 500 boats racing, Leander had four boats in the top five and five boats in the top ten overall.  We had ten boats racing, with sometimes two or three Leander boats in the same category and so out of a possible six category wins, Leander won five! I think chief coach Mark Banks was pretty happy with that.

Our quad raced in the Elite women's category and we had a solid race.  We were started behind the men's elite coxed fours, so we gave them as big a gap as we could.  It was a good job we did because you don't want to have to start steering around crews straight off the start and we caught up with the crew ahead of us relatively quickly. In fact, our finish time was over a minute quicker than the men's coxed four who started directly ahead of us, and in the end we overtook three men's coxed fours during the race which was a great mid race morale boost! We were the fastest women's boat on the river, winners of Elite W4x pennant and placed 60th overall.

Elite W4x mid race, courtesy of Leander's press officer Robert Treharne Jones
From stroke to bow (left to right) Victoria Thornley, Katie Greves, Erica Bodman, Ro Bradbury

We were pleased to put a good distance between us and the next female crew down the river, who were 27 seconds slower, the winners of the IM1 pennant, Molesey Boat Club. Incidentally they had a brilliant race I think, beating the second place Elite women's 4x, Imperial Boat Club.

I personally had a great time training and racing with this crew. Such a wealth of experience in the boat, they are great girls to learn from.

Now the mild panic sets in as it is less than two weeks till GB Trials in Boston where we do a 2k ergo test on the Saturday (24th) and 5k water time trial on the Sunday (25th). I don't feel ready yet!

Fullers Head of the River Fours

So, it is that time of year again for Fours Head, a brilliant head race in London.  Race day is Sat 10th November, start time of the event: 12.15pm. 

The race starts at Chiswick and finish at Putney (reverse Boat Race course). All boats have four rowers in, so we have quadruple sculls, coxless fours and coxed fours. There are 480 boats due to race so the river will be very busy! Best viewing spots are on Hammersmith Bridge and Putney embankment.  My boat is going off number 43.

I am racing women's elite quads for Leander with (from stroke to bow) Victoria Thornley, Katie Greves, myself and Ro Bradbury.  All these girls have experience racing the quad for Great Britain, at senior World Cup or World Championship level, so I am in the best possible company and looking forward to a great race on Saturday!

Crews rowing up to marshall at a past Fours Head