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| The start from the race for lanes on Monday |
"So unbelievably proud of all the Malta men who raced at the trials yesterday. Seeing you compete lifted my spirits up and out of this chair! It's hard to explain how great it felt - during those moments watching and cheering I forgot the paralysis and it took me back in time to my racing days, but also so happy and glad to be a part of such an amazing sport and community of athletes."
Congratulations to all crews who competed at Trials this week. There was great racing to spare, and good sportsmanship. Thank you especially to my parents for supporting me, I love you mom and dad - and my pug Pele.
If you would like to help us compete - here is the link to our fundraising page:
It's a long way to go to meet our goal and every little bit helps, even $25.00.
Thank you for supporting us, we will be pulling for YOU!
The race.
Riverside goes off fast - just as they had in the Heat. We have a decent start and trail them at 500m into the piece - but I am at best loosely aware of this. Focus is super-conscious, beyond thought, feeling the touch at the front end and bringing it through with Andy and Colin and passing it back to Shane. Shane is super-calm with his calls. We are in the outside lane 5 next to RBC, we can hear them, and see them peripherally. At 750m down we risk being pulled into chasing them down - and resist, sticking to plan. A full 2000m race, not a race to the 1000m mark. I see slightly more of their stern after halfway. Colin is clearly resisting the urge to check, his head turning slightly right, then back in the boat. Shane says "it's one length" and we continue to do our thing, continue with the same exact rhythm, calm, composed... relentless. Craftsbury is slipping, and now so is RBC... ever so slightly, but it's enough to draw their stern deck back into my peripheral vision. I dig in with Colin, re-checking my timing, feeling the boat continue to run. With 750m to go Shane makes a call - but really he could have said anything and I wouldn't remember, and we continue to move steadily. No big sprint, no move, just steady speed. 4 seats down.. 5 strokes go by and it's 3 seats, 2, 1 seat down... even (500m to go now) and then a sudden noise from RBC - they have caught a crab.
I'm friends with the guys in that boat. They're dedicated athletes and great competitors. This is not how they wanted to end their season, nor did we want to have that happen in the race. As they dropped back we pulled away from Craftsbury and went on to win - RBC paddled across the line after recovering the lost oar. In several acts of true sportsmanship - they congratulated us on the dock and afterwards for a well-rowed race, and wished us luck moving forward. It's a shame we couldn't all finish the race out clean.
The plan.
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| The last strokes in the final |
With our coach Chris McElroy, we will continue to prepare to race our fastest at the World Rowing Championships at the end of the month.
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| Love you mom and dad |
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