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

Diamond Jubilee Rowing Championships 2012

It was certainly a baptism of fire experience this weekend.

Racing 2k at this time of year, are you crazy?! Apparently the Diamond Jubilee Rowing Championships organisers thought not, but my body only three weeks into the new 2012-2013 season had a bit of a shock!

I raced for my club, Leander, on Sunday 21st October in a women's quadruple scull.  I was joined by Olympian Katie Greves (2008,2012), and Monica Relph and Victoria Meyer-Laker.  Conditions on Sunday morning for the time trials were beautiful; flat and almost completely still.  The calm conditions from Saturday night had clearly stuck around for awhile...

Saturday evening 20.10.12 looking over Dorney Lake
copyright Rich Stock @richstockrowing

As a boat, having only just come back to training from our end of season break and the other girls having other work/boat commitments, we only managed 4 or 5 outings before racing. Katie hadn't raced since her Olympic Final and this was going to be a very different experience for her at Dorney!  We put in a slightly safe but solid performance in the time trial, and I was surprised to later see that we had won the time trial by so much, putting six seconds between us and the second placed crew.

What seemed like a very short time later, we were back on the water for the semi final.  We made a good start on the race and put ourselves into a comfortable lead by 500m.  Just before the halfway mark Katie our stroke girl gave a call to take it down on the rate, so we gave the boat a bit more time to run, concentrated on our technique and rowed as light as we could to stay a length ahead of the next crew.  We crossed the line comfortable with our win and safely into the A final.

Again, a short break and then out onto the lake for the A final of the women's quadruple sculls.  Legs heavy, we didn't have the best start and found ourselves adrift of our two biggest threats, the Wallingford Lightweight quad and the Isle of Ely composite lightweight quad. Lightweights are typically fast starters, having less weight to get moving so we found confidence in our mid race pace and set a rhythm that would carry us through. By the 500m mark we were just ahead of the field and we continued to slowly draw away.  We knew that we would have to fight for the win, and we did, finally coming home with a hint of clear water, 2 seconds in front of Wallingford RC.

Semi-Final and Finals results can be found here

Winners of Women's 4x at the Diamond Jubilee Rowing Championships 2012

L-R Katie Greves, Monica Relph, Erica Bodman, Victoria Meyer-Laker

Now I look forward to the Fullers Head of the River Fours race in just under three weeks time.  I will be racing a quad, line up to be confirmed.

Down time and Racing

For my end of season break this year I spent two weeks in Italy and two weeks at home in Guernsey.
Our holiday in Italy was a lot of fun and we mixed downtime with activities, including climbing a mountain and being joined for a little while by a few mountain goats!

It is rare that I get to spend such a long time at home and although not completely relaxing because I had to train whilst I was there, it was such a worthwhile visit.

I am always struck by how professional, helpful and genuinely concerned everybody from the Guernsey Sports Commission and Rising Stars set-up is with me.  It is such a pleasure to come home to Guernsey and have such an interest taken in my career.  I am constantly asked if there is anything else that can be done to help me; any other support or expertise that I require.  The nature of our island community comes through in the concern and guidance that is shown to me.

This visit to Guernsey was most productive because it allowed me to become inducted at the new Spearpoint High Performance centre down at Footes Lane.  This is an brilliant new facility for Guernsey which I saw being used by lots of young athletes with a fantastic support network of coaches.  I was also introduced to Tim Newenham and Denis Mulkerrin by GSC's performance director Jeremy Frith.  Jeremy is always looking for the best way to support and enhance performance, and I was so grateful for these introductions because I felt that this was one of  the most productive meetings ever.  Tim and Denis are both hugely respected and experienced in a range of sports and helped me with my weightlifting technique and things as basic but vital as posture, down at the Spearpoint facility.

In addition to working with the Guernsey Sports Commission, Tim has an extensive CV including current Performance Director for British Shooting and National Coach mentor for Javelin.  An incredibly inspiring and motivating individual, aside from his practical suggestions I felt I gained a great deal emotionally and motivationally from meeting him.  Denis was also very helpful and as a former British Weightlifting coach he was especially insightful when it came to my lifting techniques!

Now, back in the UK we have a rather different start to our typical rowing season. Usually winter is time for long head races (think 5km on a cold and bleak river), but this year British Rowing are changing the format somewhat.  For a range of reasons this year we have the 'Jubilee Regatta' at Dorney this weekend.  The racing is regatta style (2km on the lake) and  done in doubles and fours (Saturday) and quads and eights (Sunday).  This is a first step towards a new format for the Senior British Rowing Championships, but it will slightly differ from traditional multi-lane regattas, with heats consisting of time trials over 1900m.  The idea is to make the National Championships more of a National Championships! Up until now, the Nat Champs are scheduled in the summer racing season and they do not fit into the National Squad's racing programme. This new format means that some of the Olympic team will be racing this weekend, and they will be racing in their home club colours.  This is an exciting prospect for up and coming rowers because it means they will get the opportunity to race with and/or against some of our Olympians!

I am racing a quad on Sunday with Katie Greves (British Olympic 8+ 2008,2012) Vicki Meyer-Laker and Monica Relph (both Medallists at 2012 European Championships).  This is a very good line up and I am looking forward to the racing!



Post Jubilee Regatta I will be racing at The Fours Head of the River three weeks later in London, and then two weeks after that we have GB Trials up in Boston, Lincolnshire.

Life is a rollercoaster

It's funny how things turn out sometimes. I've been reminded that nothing in sport, or life, is ever guaranteed no matter how sure you think it is.

Pistorius is run out by Oliveira in the T44 200m in the 2012 Paralympics

In rowing terms, think about the Oxford Cambridge boat race this year. Leander Club had raced both crews and found Oxford to be the much faster crew, so lots of the athletes and coaches put early bets on for Oxford to win, before the bookies realised just how hot the Oxford crew were for favourite.  Even I, who has never gambled or been tempted, seriously contemplated putting a bet on for Oxford to win.  The only reason I didn't was that I was a bit confused about the whole online betting system, having never looked at it before.  By the time I figured it out the odds were far less favourable than before and I felt cheated already!  We all know what happened in the Boat Race this year and it taught me a few things.
1. Never swim into the Thames during the Boat Race. You will be forever universally hated.
2. Never gamble, the bookies are in business for a reason.
3. Sport is always unpredictable!

Throughout this season I have had many of the other European rowers comment to me that I am 'so lucky', for I have been in my boat since December. Tina and I did our first bit of racing in the double in December and we have been set as this crew since then. No threat of other athletes being introduced to challenge our seats, we stood out as a pair from the GB trialling system in our singles this year and so an early combination was made.  The women's eight that wanted European selection had numerous problems, namely lacking sufficient high quality athletes to fill the boat, meaning they were not worried about their seats, but about being able to fill the boat. They did not get into the eight until late in the season, but now the boat has been set they are posting some very encouraging times.

On the other hand, my season has gone the other way. Tina and I had a brilliant Holland Beker Regatta in Amsterdam, we had a clean sweep at women's Henley and narrowly lost out to a top crew at Henley Royal Regatta. We were going really well until a month ago when, five weeks away from Europeans, Tina's back started giving her problems.  Tina is an extremely talented athlete but her back is her Achilles heel, having put her out of the sport in 2009 for 18months. The medical team expected that she would never row again. It is a testament to her love of the sport, dedication and iron will that she has made a comeback. Tina has been back in the sport for 18months.

Now, a slightly sore back is common in any rower due to the heavy and repetitive loading we constantly put our backs through.  However, a month ago Tina started getting some more serious back pain in the area of her old injury. She was pulled out of the double for a few sessions to rest her back and get it treated, and a few days later having been in a new combination with a sub I  developed a mild stress reaction on my rib. This put me out of the boat for ten days, but happily it coincided with Tina's time out of the boat so we weren't affecting each other. My rib worries cleared up pretty quickly and I started to get back into the boat. The next couple weeks were taken slowly with Tina as she had an injection in her back to try and settle it down.  We gradually built up to time back in the double but it was a race against time. All boats were meant to do a 2km race to be considered for selection, but the timing of this race was too early for Tina.  So, our selection pieces were set to be less than a week before we were due to fly out to Varese for the Championships.

Two days before our selection pieces, we were still finding our feet in the boat and figuring out what Tina's back was happy with, we had to try some bursts up to race pace.  I remember coming off the water feeling that it was not Tina that I'd been in the boat with. She wasn't feeling racy, tough, fast.  With a serious back injury history and a new injury in recovery it was impossible for her to put down the power in the boat that was required.  Later that day, Ann Redgrave, GB team doctor withdrew Tina from racing the double at Europeans.  I fully agreed with the decision, as we would not have been able to race to our full potential and the championships would have certainly have aggravated her injury.  It is never easy news to take though, and I was told that I would paddle in my single the following day and do the selection pieces in my single the day after.

Despite having a good run in my single on the selection pieces, and being on track for my personal best time in less favourable conditions, the decision was taken not to race me in my single.  The single is an incredibly tough event and the entry list this year at Europeans is, as always, intimidating. Fourteen athletes who have raced at a host of World Cup and World Championships including three London Olympians and six athletes attending the Olympic Qualifying Regatta. In the circumstances it was not a wholly surprising decision not to send me, but incredibly disappointing nonetheless.

Apologies to all of our supporters over this season, you have been fantastic.  I desperately wish we could have raced the double, I think it would have been a really exciting championships.

I am looking forward to my end of season break which will start now, although it feels like I haven't really earned it because I didn't get the chance to race. It is days like today that makes me wonder why I do this. Being an athlete is both brilliant and awful, depending on when you ask.


Thank Yous

Special thanks this year to Rihoy and Sons, for my beautiful new boat. It is my baby, I still treat it like gold dust.

The Guernsey Sports Commission and the Rising Stars, I could not do this without your support. Thank you for making me a Rising Star, it is a privilege and I wish everything could go right for me all the time. I only want to give you good news!

Our European Double sponsors: (in no particular order)

Hunter Boots

Buff

110% Play Harder

Sun Sense

Headsweats

Faith in Nature

We have been very lucky to recieve so much support this year, it makes our jobs so much easier. We will come back fighting next season, after recharging our batteries and rediscovering the desire.  I look forward to giving you better news next time!

HRR and onwards

So, I was disappointed that we got knocked out in our first round at Henley Royal Regatta a couple weeks ago. My reluctance to write this post stems from that disappointment. So, I will not dwell on the result, only to say I thought we could have had our racing heads on a little more securely but ultimately we did row technically well. We had a close race with the New Zealand crew, who were then beaten by Australia by 1/3 of a length who went on to win overall. The draw really is luck of the draw, and unfortunately we had some tough competition in the first round, but that is how it goes at Henley!

Now we are back into winter style training whilst we prepare for Europeans in 2+ months.  No regatta racing between now and then, just internal racing against other GB European bound boats of different boat types.

Time to get the head down!