we will beat you ....

Report as promised ....

so we did two pieces side by side with the "first 8" on Tuesday morning I am going to go ahead and say it was a success. While the official results may indicate that the first 8 is quicker I think that they a) are incorrect (there are some major discrepancies in the timing, noted by many individuals including coaches) and b) not 100% indicative of our true speed.

On the 1250 off the start we stumbled a little off the start and had to play catch up. We walked back on the other 8 by the end of the piece and we were really happy with the way we settled into a really nice rhythm. On the 750 we stepped into our build and rhythm really well- everyone right onto the feet together and the boat just lifted off. We pushed away from the other crew and coming into the last 250m I was calling to take it up and walk away as we were almost a length up on them. (the timing claims it was a dead even piece. sure.) We got a little excited and things fell apart but we were happy to see that we have places to improve and gain more speed.

Right now just relaxing at the club in between races at the Met Regatta. Won our heat and just chilling before our final this afternoon (more racing tomorrow). We did well in our heat but we can push ourselves more and make a few more positive changes. It's guaranteed that Molesey, Thames and Imperial are going to come after us in the final. Another report to follow tonight. Keep the adventure going!

only a month to go

So it's come down that final countdown ... a month to go until Henley is here and we're duking it out for the Ladies Plate against our other 8, Harvard, Molesey and whoever else shows up to pick a fight with us. At this point we have "selected" crews but of course that will change because, well, let's be honest, it just will. I'm coxing what some people like to call the 2nd 8 or the "B" boat, blah blah. Call it what you want but it's MY 8 and I'm going to make it quick and dominate. They may be young and a little underpowered in comparison to our "1st" 8 and say, Harvard but we will make up for that by the fact that we are a very technical crew. I will reference lightweights here: they aren't as big so to make up for it they (usually) tend to row very technically sound.

We have the Metropolitan Regatta this weekend at Dorney Lake where we'll be racing in the Senior 8+ category but before that we've got some pieces (a 1250m and a 750m) to do vs our "pesky rivals" (to quote the BBC- who had some good commentary this weekend during the 1st World Cup I might add!) to get us fired up. I shall report back after our pieces. Also, one full side of the booms is up and about a third of the other side is in so it's making for some interesting encounters on the reach now. Not long now and every stroke counts. Too bad it's a bank holiday and it's raining ...

PS- shout out to my boyfriend who did really well (11th overall) with his u23 LM4- at the (senior) World Cup in Munich this past weekend. Go JP! xx