Don't Oink Before you Sneeze

Well Melbourne has become the "Swine Flu" capital of Australia! Due to the fact that there have been quite a few number of confirmed swine flu cases, even though they are milder than the normal flu, Victorians have become marked people. I can understand why people are worried, but it seems to me that the media have made this a lot worse than it need be.

Our LTA4+ crew are about to embark on our second camp in 6 days. The first thing we had to overcome was where it was going to be held. Lake Burley Griffith is still closed due to the algae so it was decided that we head up to Penrith, New South Wales to the Sydney International Regatta Centre, loving known to us as SIRC. It is a fantastic rowing centre and was purposely built for the 2000 Sydney Olympics. We couldn't ask for a better venue to train at.

Enter "Swine Flu".

All athletes from Victoria now have to be quarantined before any contact with other rowers and coaches from other states. This means that Lisa (our cox) and I have to head up to Sydney 4 days before the rest of the crew. This is not a problem for me as I am able to move a few things around but Lisa has exams for Uni and is desperately trying to get them re-scheduled. If she can't she will have to miss the camp and we will have to have one of the other AIS coxes come to help us out. I don't believe that this is the best thing, as I believe that we need stability at this point in time. But at least we will still be able to have the camp. Here's hoping that Lisa is able to re-schedule the exam, we will find out tomorrow.

The funny thing about all this is that since my diagnosis of MS in 1998 and starting on the Inter-feron drugs I have not had a cold or flu. That is 11 years of not catching anything, even when my husband Russ has been sick. I can't really understand how an immuno-suppressant can do this or if it is actually the cause but I am not about to complain!

So it will be an interesting 4 days, trying to work out how and where to train so as not to come into contact with other rowers. So once I am up in Sydney I will let you know how the quarantine period is spent!