Party Time!

To get past our disappointment of our final’s row we all did something different! Henry went with his parents back to the course to watch the Aussie Men’s Eight row in the B Final. Pete took the bus back to watch, but us women, well we went and did a bit of retail therapy!

First stop was the most amazing deli I have ever been into. They had the biggest and best chocolate section we had ever seen! I think Lisa and I thought we had died and gone to heaven! Next section was the wine…yes for me! I was able to buy a bottle of Jacob’s Creek Cab/Merlot (yes I know I should have gone for the Polish wine, but I wanted something I knew I would enjoy!), then it was the fresh fruit section where Lisa and Alex bought the most beautiful raspberries.

Then it was on to all the other shops in the mall, spending more money on clothing and shoes! Why is it that you always feel better after spending money on stuff that you probably don’t really need?

We headed back to our hotel room, cracked open the red and had ourselves a little happy hour!

We had all decided to meet at 6pm to go and have some dinner as we were trying to meet up with the Canadians and Irish Adaptive rowers in the town square at 7:30pm for drinks. We found a place and had a wonderful meal…no pork!

As you can see from the picture not much was left on the plates. We also had a few drinks to go with the food.

We were unable to find the other rowers so after walking around looking for them plopped ourselves down at a bar with Adrian the Kiwi coach and his rower Robyn. Then the Italians found us and another round of drinks were purchased! It wasn’t a very late night and we were back in the hotel around 11:30.

The last day of racing Australian had the women’s lightweight double and the men’s quad. The entire team headed to the course to watch the racing and do some trading of team gear! Both crews had huge tailwinds to deal with again during racing and against an incredibly strong field the women were 5th. Then it was time for the men…what an incredible race. Our men got away really well and were leading right up to the 1000m mark, then the fight was on. Poland has been world champions in this event for the last 5 years! I don’ think I have yelled so loud! Our men ended up second with Poland retaining the title. For us Aussie’s this was a great way to finish the regatta!

We had a reception to attend for the Australian athletes and supporters just behind the course and when I got there I couldn’t believe how many supporters had been in the stands. Heaps of parents, brothers, sisters, girlfriends, boyfriends! It was amazing. We had a few speeches from David Crawshay, Pat McNamara (president of Rowing Australia) and then Andrew Matheson to wrap up. One gesture which I was happy to see was that each of the coaches who had a crew win a medal was presented with the medal that is awarded to the federation. I thought this was fantastic as the coaches do as much work as the athlete (albeit in a different way).

The day ended with all of us (our crew) heading to the town square again for a bite to eat and along the way we picked up a number of the parents to join us at the restaurant. We had the best meal I have had here and I know that I said I wouldn’t touch pork again but ….yes I had pork, well a huge rack of ribs!

Henry’s mom and dad were also in the group of parents and Tim (Henry’s dad) decided that he was buying our drinks…then he got us started on Vodka shots! Not just any old Vodka off the shelf, but true original Polish Vodka. I must say it was nice and went down very smoothly, although I could feel it go down!

Oh that burns all the way down!!!

We were seeing rowers everywhere as there were a number of after parties. A lot of them were dressed up and definitely looking for a good party! I on the other hand had just about had enough and was looking to put my feet up. We walked around for a little while chatting with a number of different people we met along the way and eventually Lisa took off to one of the parties, then Henry went with a couple of the guys from the men’s eight, Pete, Alex and I decided to head home. I know we were probably party poopers but I was happy with my night and my body was screaming for some rest!

It is now very early on our last day in Poznan as I write this. Today we have a debrief day, which is going to take a while and then we are hoping to head out for a bit more sightseeing. This has been a wonderful experience! I have met so many new and wonderful people, seen some amazing parts of Europe and got to row with the world’s best…What more could I ask for!

I am now ready to head home, have a few days rest, relaxation and introduce myself to my husband Russ and dog Kimba! I have been away a bit this year and Russ has been a wonderful support in this campaign, so time to give back! Thank you from the bottom of my heart to all those people who have been there for all of us, we couldn’t have done it without you!

Look out World, the Australian LTA4+ crew is here to stay and we will only get stronger and faster! See you in New Zealand for the next World Rowing Championships in November 2010.

Race Day - A Final

Well what can I say? I think our race was the worst that we have ever done. But saying that here is what happened.

We headed up to the start of the course and on the way up against a huge headwind we realised that it would be a massive tailwind for us on the course. We had just had two races against this huge headwind and were very used to it but hadn’t done anything in a tailwind like we were to expect. Come to think of it I don’t think I have ever rowed in a tailwind like this! I asked Alex and she had never either.

We had a really good warm up, it felt good, we had good run on the boat and we were ready. We were in lane one and it was good at the start as it was almost a direct tailwind so we didn’t have to keep the boat in line too much.

We had a pretty good start, going out fairly slowly (or at least we thought) at a stroke rate of 38. Now for those of you who are not rowers, for us 38 is really, really high. I don’t think that we have ever gone that fast! Our first 250 wasn’t too bad and leading into the second 250 we did a leg drive. Overall we had the fastest 500m that we have ever had by more than a few seconds! However just about 100m past the 500, it was getting a bit messy (this was due to the massive tailwind) and Pete in 3 seat crabbed. For those of you who don’t understand this is when the oar gets caught on a wave and pulled under. It was so big that it wrenched the oar right out of his hands, threw him backwards almost into my lap and stopped the boat completely! It took us about 20 seconds to actually get the boat back into the proper lane (it had thrown us into lane 2) and back up and rowing.

We were now in the last 250m and just wanted to finish on a good note and actually look like we knew what we were doing. After we stopped I was worried that Pete’s neck had been hurt during the crab, but he was okay. If I am honest I have to say that I was mad. I was so angry I couldn’t be upset. I know that Pete and Alex had a few tears while we headed to the cool down lake, but I couldn’t (this is unusual for me).

We had our cool down and all I could think of was looking good past the grandstand as there were a number of Aussie’s yelling congratulations at us. I couldn’t accept congratulations at that point…why…we had rowed badly!

We pulled into the pontoon and our coach Pedro was there. Not a lot was said at that point, we just got the boat out, racked the boat and then had a meeting. Pedro put everything into perspective. He said he was proud of us and what we had done. We had made the A final, when a lot of people wouldn’t have expected us to make it. We had done the best that we could. Things happen during races and we can’t change that fact. We had the fastest first 500m we had ever had, even if it was messy. Everyone else was messy and dealing with the same conditions. We had to keep in mind that we were now 6th fastest in the World!

In the end it was Great Britain (in a new world record), Italy, Germany, Canada, Ukraine and Australia.

So it is now a few hours after the race, we got back to the hotel. I went over to the shopping centre, bought some wine, did some retail therapy in the form of shoes and a top and we are getting ready to go out and have non hotel food! Then meeting with the Canadians and Irish for a night of drinks! Hopefully I will be able to write a blog tomorrow and tell you about our night.

Hey we are ranked 6th in the WORLD!!!

Eve of the A Final

Well we have just had our last training row. All the hard work of the last 3 ½ months is about to come to a head! This is it…the A Final of the LTA4+ at the World Rowing Championships. I still get goose bumps when I say it because I still don’t think that most of us really believe that we are here!

There is nothing more that we can do to prepare for tomorrow except have a good night’s sleep. All the work has been done that can be done and we just have to go out there and give it everything we have. Actually more than everything we have.

We go in as the underdogs in this race. We are in Lane 1 and hopefully oblivious to every other crew in that race. We have to go into this race believing in ourselves and our abilities and I am pretty sure that every one of us in this crew do!

There is nothing to lose in this race. We know that it will hurt like hell, but it is only just over 3 minutes of pain…then it is all over!

We have had so many messages of support and you have no idea how much that has contributed to our belief. Whatever the outcome we will know that we have given it our all!

Two Days to the A Final!

The last couple of days have been interesting. Right after our race in the Rep’s on Tuesday, as soon as we finished, Pete yelled out in pain. His trap muscle had gone into spasm to protect his neck which had been a bit sore. Needless to say we wanted to get off the water right away and get him to the doctor and physio.

I am happy to say that he has recovered pretty well and after not rowing on the water Wednesday, some good muscle relaxants and anti-inflammatory drugs, we were able to get out on the water today. That of course was after watching 3 of our crew’s row in their semi-finals.

So far the Australian team has done a bloody good job. Wednesday was probably the most disappointing day for some of our rowers. The men’s Eight was taking part in the Repechage and unfortunately did not qualify for the A Final. They are however in the B final. Not where they wanted to be but considering they have an average age of 21!, yes I said 21, they have done a bloody good job and if they stay together for the next 3 years…well look out world! It is sad because you never know what to say to anyone. Their goal was the A Final and they sadly didn’t reach it. What they have to do now is go out in the B Final and kick some butt. Prove that they should have been there. The other team going to a B Final is the light weight men’s 4. They have been plagued with injury and even as early as Varese had to replace one of the rowers with Tom Bertrand who had been on the under 23 team. So to get to where they did and how they finished yesterday was a huge achievement. But both boats are probably not feeling that way right now.

Thursday was a better day for the Aussie’s, with three boats qualifying for the A Finals. The Women’s double, the women’s pair and the men’s four. The double and pair both coming 2nd in their semi-finals and men absolutely blitzing the field in the four. It was really fantastic to be able to be in the stands and cheer for each of the crews.

On our down time we have (other than training) been able to have a little look around and I must say I think that my first impressions were way off! Poznan is a beautiful city with some amazing architecture. Most of the people are very friendly especially if you try to say hello or thank you in Polish. These I must say are the only two words that I actually know and can remember. It is definitely one of the most difficult languages I have ever tried!

The only bad thing that has happened in the last couple of days is that I have been robbed of money from my wallet! There had been a number of thefts from the rowing course, so we decided that we would leave our valuables in our hotel rooms. I even hid my stuff in my suitcase under clothes! (No safes in the rooms!) If I hadn’t gone into my wallet to grab some money for a coffee I would never have known. They got away with 90 Polish dollars (I am not even going to try and type the word for the money!), 5 EURO and 20 Australian. They kindly left me 5 EURO and 40 Australian! So I had to report it to the reception and they in turn called the police.

Well I must say that was an interesting experience! Me telling a reception girl in English everything, her trying to translate to the Police officer who didn’t speak a word of English! We finally got through it and I am hoping that the insurance will cover the cost. It works out to only about $70 Australian but it is the principle of the whole thing! At least they didn’t take my passport, phone or credit cards!

I got to spend some time with Alex and her parents, Kingsley and Kim. We walked around the Poznan Town Square and I am told that it is absolutely beautiful at night. So hopefully when we are finished racing we can go out for dinner.

In the picture is Alex with her parents.

Tomorrow is the B Final of our event, but we won’t be going to watch. It is supposed to be 31 degrees here tomorrow and as most people know the heat affects me. We will head down for a small training row so that we can be well rested for Saturday!

In closing I just want to add to this blog an email that Alex got from a friend of hers. What was written in it was something that a cox had once said to their crew before a huge final. To me it made me believe that something special can happen on Saturday. We may be the underdogs going it, but hey so was Steven Bradbury in the ice speed skating, and look what happened to him. So I will leave you with this and please excuse the language as I am putting it in, in its entirety:

“Three minutes to the biggest battle of our professional lives. All comes down to today, and either, we heal as a team, or we're gonna crumble. Inch by inch, play by play. Until we're finished. We're in hell right now, believe me. And, we can stay here, get the shit kicked out of us, or we can fight our way back into the light. We can climb outta hell... one inch at a time. ....

You find out life's this game of inches, so is rowing. Because in either game - life or rowing- the margin for error is so small. I mean, one half a step too late or too early and you don't quite make it. One half second too slow, too fast and you don't quite catch it. The inches we need are everywhere around us. They're in every break of the game, every minute, every second. On this team we fight for that inch. On this team we tear ourselves and everyone else around us to pieces for that inch. We claw with our fingernails for that inch. Because we know when add up all those inches, that's gonna make the fucking difference between winning and losing! Between living and dying! I'll tell you this, in any fight it's the guy whose willing to die whose gonna win that inch. And I know, if I'm gonna have any life anymore it's because I'm still willing to fight and die for that inch, because that's what living is, the six inches in front of your face. Now I can't make you do it. You've got to look at the guy next to you, look into his eyes. Now I think ya going to see a guy who will go that inch with you. Your gonna see a guy who will sacrifice himself for this team, because he knows when it comes down to it your gonna do the same for him. That's a team, women and either, we heal, now, as a team, or we will die as individuals. That's rowing guys, that's all it is. Now, what are you gonna do? “

Let The Games Begin by Henry Macphillamy

Well, as a crew we have trained long and hard for this moment, and now we’re here, ready and revving to get down to the business end of things. I think that a good performance in the heat on Monday was crucial for us. We knew how well we can row together in training and in time trials. Racing at the world championships on the other hand, with all the pressure and excitement they entail is a whole new ball game entirely.

For me it was my first real race in the four. During every other time trial we have done it has just been us and the clock. A clock is a fixed inanimate object that you can neither touch hear or see. In the heat and repechage you could hear the incoherent screeches of the other Cox’s and the thud of powerful strokes in the lanes adjacent to you. You know that these crews are doing everything they possibly can to mow you down with every stroke they take. You can let their presence intimidate you, or you can use them to enhance your own performance.

For the best part of the last four months, the five of us have worked together as a crew. Our times got progressively faster and faster until we (and others) considered ourselves worthy of representing our country. It hasn’t been easy for any of us, and in not just in terms of training sessions! As we head in to the last few days and training rows before our final race here, I think back to all the work which we have done to get to this point.

Not only the work we have put in as a crew, but also those who have supported and encouraged us. If someone had told me that I would be in the a final at the rowing world championships this time last year, I probably would have laughed at them! There have been many times in my life that I haven’t backed myself where others have, and nowhere could this be truer than in rowing. I’ve been lucky in meeting coaches like Simon, Tony, Linda, Stuart and Sue who have given up their time and shared their experience and passion for the sport with me. I’ve got an awesome family who have done everything from giving me lifts to training (both in peak hour and stupidly early hours of the morning), travelling half way around the world to support me (and take in the sites), walk and feed my mongrel of a dog while I’m away, send me ‘harden the f**k up messages, and of course, get laughs out of the numerous Facebook photos I have found myself in throughout the adventure. Relatives, all my mates, and I could go on and on!

Now is the time to back ourselves and each other as a crew. We have put in the work, and we know that we are more than capable of racing a good race. Of course I want to win a medal here as I’m sure we all do. The most satisfying feeling however will come from finishing that race, and knowing that we could not have possibly put more in to it than we did. I can’t wait for Saturday to arrive, and I can’t wait to celebrate with a very cold beer (or ten).
Four out

Race Day – Repechage

Well today was probably the most important row of all our short careers! We had to place 1st or 2nd in our Rep in order to race in the A Final. No one wanted to row in the B Final we wanted to be in that A Final no matter what!

Today we were racing against Canada, Poland, Russia and Ireland. We knew that we could beat Poland and Russia as we had done this yesterday. But you never know what a crew can have up their sleeve. Canada I knew was very strong. They had made the final at the Beijing Paralympics so we had our work cut out for us. Ireland we weren’t sure of. They hadn’t fared very well yesterday, but they were in a tough heat. The only thing we knew of them was the race they had earlier in the season in Munich at the first World Cup race and I knew that they had come 3rd. So they were also potentially a threat.

The day dawned very sunny but again with the wind! We got to the course and found that it was a headwind again with a slight crosswind added to it and even stronger than yesterday! Not really what we wanted but the only consolation was that every boat had to deal with the same wind!

At the start Alex and I had to continue rowing the boat, me taking a stroke and Alex backing it just to stay in line, I was almost exhausted before the race. Once the race was underway we were able to stay in touch with Canada until about the 300 mark and then they just seemed to pull away. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Russia on my right and Ireland on my left. We continued to gain on Russia, just like we had done yesterday, with Lisa calling exactly where we were in relation to their boat.

Yesterday we had let ourselves down in the 3rd 250m so our game plan was to start to do a push at the 450m mark. At this point Lisa told us to sit up take 3 breaths in time with each stroke of the oar and then she called the push. Driving as hard as we could with the legs for ten strokes, then concentrating on our finishes for 10, then making sure we were getting clean sharp catches. By this point we were into our last 250m and we knew that we just had to hold this. Lisa asked again for us to dig even deeper.

I think we surprised the Russians as we pushed so early but we got a good distance over them, but then the Irish pushed and made some water back up. We dug deeper in the last 150m and were able to pull away and cross the line in 2nd place.

I don’t think my body has ever hurt so much; the burn in the leg muscles was unbelievable. But “WE DID IT” we had made the A Final at the World Rowing Championships! All I could think of at this point was getting air into my lungs and water into my mouth!

We had a cool down and were able to watch our women’s four race for lanes. They did well coming 3rd. Just before our race our Arms/Shoulders male rower Ben Houlison raced in his repechage and won by a whopping 8 seconds. So all in all it was a brilliant day for Australian rowing.

We now don’t race until Saturday the 29th of August, so we will be doing training rows each day. We are so excited and happy to be here that making the A final is icing on the cake. Look out world Australian Adaptive rowing is here to stay!

Race Day - Heats

We were up bright and early today, having breakfast and then heading down to the course on the 8 a.m. bus. Our heat was at 10:20 a.m. so we put hands on the boat at just after 9:30 a.m. In our heat was us, Italy, Poland, Russia, France and the USA. We were situated in lane 4 between Poland on our left and Russia on our right.

After our warm up we were called on to the course and due to the very strong head wind they moved all the boats over one spot so we were now in lane 5. The official started calling out the names of the countries, so we sat ready and were then told to sit easy as there was a technical fault. A few seconds later he started saying the country names again, we sat forward, the lights came on and the buzzer went. We were off.

It probably wasn’t the best start we had ever had, but it certainly wasn’t bad! The Italians just took off with the most amazing start. Now let me clarify that all this info has come to me from Lisa our Cox because I did the right thing and kept my “eyes in the boat”. No other crew mattered except what we were doing together in our boat.

We got a great jump on the Polish and Russian teams and at about 250m Lisa told us that she was even with 3 seat of the Russian boat, then every 10-20 strokes she told us how we were moving away from them. At 500m the Italians and our boat had pulled past all the other boats in the field. I felt that we let ourselves down in the third 250 as the power in the boat dropped. Unfortunately this has been a problem for us in the past. At the 750m mark, Lisa yelled to “drive with the legs” to “get the power on and stay long in the wind”. The USA and the Russians had made up some ground on us, so working together we picked the boat speed up and drove through the wind. We were able to pull away a bit more and before we knew it we had crossed the finish line.

To be honest I had no idea where we had placed as I didn’t see any of the other boats other than Poland who had dropped back significantly. Lisa had to tell us that we were second to Italy. Really not too bad considering it was the first “ever” race we have done and we had just come second to the Paralympic Gold Medallists!

We rowed down past the grandstand and then on to our cool down. We had a number of people tell us from the side that we had done well and yelling “well done Aussie’s”, so that was really a good feeling. After our cool down we were back at the landing and pulling the boat out of the water.

We now have to race tomorrow morning in the Repechage. This will mean that we must come 1st or 2nd in our race to proceed to the A Final on Saturday. We are all feeling very confident that this will be possible, due to our race today.

One Day to Race Day

We have now had a few days to get used to being in Poland and I must say we are enjoying it! At least I know I am. It is so amazing to see the rowing course full of people and the racks full of boats. The different colours around are amazing and we are all trying to decide which team gear we would like to try and get hold of. We have been told that at the end of the week it is like a feeding frenzy with a couple of hundred people milling around and swapping gear. One of the men’s four rowers told us not to be intimidated just jump in and swap! So we are looking forward to that.

We have had some good sessions on the water and it has been great to be able to suss out the competition. We were basically on our own (with the Italians and Canadians) for a few days but everyone is here now and looking forward to racing.

We have received a really good draw for the heats with most of the heavy weights in the second heat. We are in the first heat against USA, Poland, Russia, Korea and Italy, so I feel very confident going into this heat. First place in the heat goes directly to the A final and doesn’t have to race again. The second heat has Great Britain (world record holders), Germany (a powerhouse in rowing) and Canada along with a few others so that will be a tough heat as my friend Tony (from Canada) has stated on Facebook!

I know that the nerves for me are starting to kick in as well as my roommate Alex’s! But we just need to get this first race over, it seems like it has been a long time coming and I am looking forward to it. We have one short paddle today concentrating on starts and then a good night’s sleep.
We have been able to have a look around the local area and get to the shopping centre across the street. It is an amazing place, housed in an old brewery; you definitely need some money to shop there! All top brand names Versace, Zara etc. and well out of my price range.

Amazing Shopping mall!

We also attended the opening ceremonies last night. Not sure I will ever do that again! They were having an all day dance party with one of the top DJ’s in the world Armin van Buuren and after serving alcohol to all the local Polish people all day they decided it would be good to stop it for an hour to have the official welcome by the Mayor of Poznan and the President of FISA.

They then unrolled every countries flag and when the German and Russian flags were unfurled the crowd booed very, very loudly! There were also a couple of mishaps with the FISA flag being raised backwards, the Brazilian flag getting stuck and not unrolling and the Swedish flag getting burn holes in it from the fireworks and a small hot air balloon catching fire and falling into the crowd!

But the music when we arrived was pumping and Henry, Matt, Alex and Lisa were all dancing away! I tried, but I am afraid that my dancing days to this kind of music are well and truly gone! So I just kind of bounced to the beat! Talk about high energy and loud music, it didn’t help that we were right at the front in front of the speakers!

Pete and I trying to fit in with the crowd!

The fireworks at the end were definitely spectacular and even the crowd turned and looked at them, but then Armin came back on the stage and the crowd was off again in a trance like state. Needless to say it was my time to exit, so Henry, Pete and I headed back to the buses and back to the hotel. But I could still hear the thumping in my head even as I put it on the pillow. I think my last thoughts were “Man this is what my parents must have thought of the music we listened to!” Last night I definitely felt old!!!

Just a quick footnote before I post this...today we had our last training session before tomorrow's heat. We were able to do a practice start with lights and buzzer and had the Russian team beside us. Now we are not the fastest out of the blocks and I don't want to be cocky...but within 20 strokes we had 3/4 of a boat length on the Russians. It wasn't our best start ever, so if we do this or better tomorrow, we should have a good race!

Two Days in Poland

We arrived in Poznan, Poland yesterday around lunch time. It was a bit bizarre as we flew into Warsaw from Milan and then caught a connecting flight to Poznan with LOT airlines, the official airline of Poland. At no time did anyone ask for our passport or did we go through customs! Just think what we could have brought into the country! We were on very small planes, the first one with three seats in each row and only 17 rows. The second plane even had the engines on the wings!

We gathered our luggage in Poznan and walked through the “nothing to declare” aisle into a throng of reporters and photographers! We thought that maybe we were to be the stars of the day…little did we know that the German soccer team was arriving to play Poland that night! Oh well we were superstars for a moment (at least in our own brains!).

We were picked up by the organizing committee in a minivan and transported to our hotel.

My first impressions of Poland were that there is no middle class. You either have money or you don’t. I am not sure what I expected here, but the land is very flat, not even a hill anywhere in the city (so far). There are some amazing old buildings that have stood the test of time and war. But they have obviously built accommodation in a hurry to house a lot of people and it is in that 70’s style of square boxes, it almost looks like tenements. A lot of the apartment blocks look on the outside very dirty, some are painted lovely colours, but the grass around them is uncut, which makes it look even more untidy.

This is one of the nicer apartment complexes.

That is not to say that the city isn’t interesting! We have noticed a number of universities such as separate uni’s for Technology, Economics and Medicine. There are also some amazing shopping centres, one which just happens to be across from our hotel! This shopping centre I will write about more once I pay it a visit.

We headed to the rowing course in the afternoon that we arrived and to say I was impressed is an understatement. Although they are still doing some setting up, with landscaping, putting up tents and electronics throughout the course. The Adaptive rowers have their own area for our boats and even our own pontoons to launch from and return to. We were just about to go out for a paddle and the Canadian LTA4+ arrived. Now some of you may know that I have been a “pen pal” via the Internet with a fellow Canadian, a member of their LTA team, Tony, but we had never met. So we saw each other, had a hug and had to say good-bye as we had our respective rows to do! We will catch up more formally after the racing is over.

We had a pretty good steady paddle, just one lap up and down of the 2km course. It was good to get back out in the boat as we have had 2 days off. Seems like a hell of a lot more, but at least we got the feel back.

Today at the rowing course there was evidence of more and more countries arriving. It is amazing hearing all the different languages spoken by not only the coxes but also the coaches on the bank of the course. It is amazing to see so many tall people in one place! Some of the rowers are huge! The boat racks are starting to fill up as well and it is amazing to see some of the very expensive boats.

We had two more rows today, just a steady state row this morning and then this afternoon we had to do 2 x 1000m pieces, one held at a stroke rate of 20 and then one stepped with stroke rates each 250m of 24, 26, 28, 30. It was unbelievable; the wind was blowing a gale! A head/cross wind that swirled! It felt like the wind was a lot stronger on the second one! When we got the results it certainly showed that it was tough out there. The second 1000m was 0.6 sec slower than the first and that was with a faster rate!!! The prognostics were pretty low, but when compared to the able bodied we were probably in the top 10% of the crews. So not a bad effort! But battling that wind did cause me some discomfort with my hip and back…thank you MS! So the first thing I did when I got back to the hotel was see the physio…she is my angel, helping to put things back into place!

We have a sleep in tomorrow morning, so will have breakfast and then go as a group for a walk, taking my camera with me…hell may even get to that shopping mall!

Our Last Day in Italy – A Visit to Lake Como

Early this morning the rest of the Senior team left Italy for Poland. We didn’t go with them as we were given the nod later than the rest of the crews to actually come here, they couldn’t get us on the flight. I don’t think that we were upset about this as it gave us a chance to go exploring.

Matt is almost back to old self and is able to drive again, although still battered, bruised and stitched. So we all jumped into a very large van and with Matt driving headed towards Lake Como. We were told that it would be hard to find, but we had seen signs in the past week…so how hard could it be? Well we found out how hard! It only took us about 1 ½ hours to get there and believe me it was well worth it!

What an unbelievable place, not only beautiful in scenery, but also beautiful in the old buildings around. We were able to park the van right near what we believe was the main square closest to the lake itself. By the time we arrived it was lunch so what better to do than head to one of the many outdoor cafés. A few of us had pasta and the others had pizza. Real Italian pasta and pizza! Don’t know if it was the fact that we were hungry or sitting outside in front of one of the most beautiful cathedrals I have ever seen!

After lunch we headed down to the Lake itself, crossed over to the water side of the road and went for a walk. The thing that struck me was the money obviously in this city! The number of boats moored was incredible. We kept walking until we came across a cable car that went up the side of the mountain and for €4.50 which is about $7.70 AUS we went up to the top. WOW is all that I can say!

We took a number of photos from every angle and then even gave the camera to Henry and believe it or not he took two fantastic pictures of the crew with Matt! We had to tell him which way to turn and to raise or lower his hands, but the photos turned out good! Who says blind people can’t become photographers!

Henry's Photo!

It was certainly getting hot so as we were walking back to the centre of the city Matt and Henry decided to become like the locals and took their shirts off. Alex did take a picture but I won’t put it on this blog as they certainly didn’t look like locals! They need a bit more colour on their skin to do that!

We then walked through the old part of the city (although it is hard to tell where old leaves off and new begins!) Como was a walled city in times gone by but as it has grown has spread past the original wall. The Italians in their wisdom have not done what a lot of the western world has done and ripped down old structures, but have incorporated the new with the old. I am glad because the old structures are magnificent!

We had walked so far that we were all feeling the effects of the sun so decided it was Gelato time! We found a small place, popped ourselves down and indulged. We walked further and it was time for dinner. So once again ordered some wonderful pasta and pizza! It was then time to get back in the van and hit the road as we had an early morning wake up to head to the airport and join the rest of the team in Poland. Funny enough the drive back only took us 45 minutes, we are getting better at finding our way around…now we have to leave!

Just a footnote to our trip to Como, we did hope to see George Clooney somewhere in town, but I guess he was hiding out in his mansion on the Lake!

So our Italian journey has come to an end and the pointy end of the journey is about to begin! So from Italy…Arrivederci!

Last Rowing Day in Italy

I must digress and talk about yesterday a bit more before I get on to today!

During the week here a number of the support staff have been heading out on long bike rides. A number of them are very experienced at riding in packs and they have also been here to Italy a number of times with other teams. Our support member Matt or Bilko as he is referred to decided that he wanted to go with them and had done so each morning. The build up during the week was to get them all prepared for the “Big” ride on Sunday morning. Bilko even went and bought new riding shorts, (not that they were the most flattering of shorts! but he liked them!) as they would be doing over 2 hours and climbing one of the bigger hills here in the district. I think he was a bit hesitant and he took a lot of joking from everyone about him doing this ride. But at 10:30 a.m. we waved them off.

At 12:30 p.m. we all went to lunch and I mentioned to Alex that the riders should be back at the hotel soon. Then while sitting down to eat we got the news that Bilko had “stacked it”, in other words he had had a crash! No one could tell us the extent of his injuries, but he had gone to hospital in an ambulance! Luckily they had a support vehicle following them and our team doctor had been in the van.

Well when he arrived back at the hotel late in the afternoon he definitely looked a bit worse for wear! He had actually come off the bike (he says at 35km/hour and hit a concrete wall and metal railing. Unfortunately he hit the railing with his face and the wall with his shoulder. Luckily he had not broken a bone at all, but did end up with a severely bruised right arm and shoulder, with 3 stitches to his chin (which they stitched up without anaesthetic! His face is bruised and slightly swollen but he is alive and that is all that matters. Oh... and he didn’t even get to see the big hill he was to climb!

Now, on to our last day rowing here in Italy.

We had one row today and that was 2 x 1000m pieces. We were only getting timed on the first 250m and the last 250m. The 500m in the middle was to be extremely easy. We were all looking forward to this because each time we had gone out we had done better than the time before and we figured that today would be no different.

Our first 250m wasn’t too bad, but certainly didn’t feel as good as it had the last few days and after the last 250m of this piece, I think we all figured that we had forgotten how to row! It felt terrible and the only thing to do was head back up to the 1000m to do the next two. Unfortunately the next two felt even worse. We had lost our really good timing and it felt like we were missing water. There certainly wasn’t much said in the boat or even after the rowing. I think all of us were in our own thoughts for the rest of the day. Funny enough we didn’t get the results until the end of the day and to say I was shocked is an understatement! The times we had done were phenomenal, faster than we had ever gone and the highest prognostic percentages we had ever obtained, even hitting 101% on the 2nd 250m. I just keep thinking, how the hell was this possible? I then found out that we had a cross wind at the start of the pieces and a tail wind at the end, but hell that could happen in a race! I will take the times, but just think how fast we could have been if we had gotten our act together! This is something that we as a crew have to think about when we next row in Poland.

After the row it was time to pack things up and load the boat trailer. Not only is the Australian trailer taking all of our boats but also the Adaptive Italian teams boats. To be honest I have never see a trailer loaded so much and then to think that they will be taking it over the mountains. We worry about taking trailers through Australia with our wide open roads. I wasn’t even sure how they were going to get this trailer up the road from the rowing club and through the round-abouts!

The rest of the team heads to Poland tomorrow on two separate flights, but because we were late inclusions on the team we have an extra day here in Italy. We will be doing a pool session in the morning, but then off to the Italian countryside and venturing a bit farther than just locally. We have the entire day to explore and I think we are all looking forward to it!

Oh and Bilko is making an amazing recovery to the point where he got his sling off his arm, yes he is battered and bruised but he even started driving again today! So at least he will be staying with us and having a look around. I think he has used one of his nine lives!

2 days to go till Poland

Since the last blog we have done some amazing pieces on the water, breaking all our personal bests! On Friday we had to do 2 x 1000m, with the first 250m flat out, the middle 500 capped at a 24 stroke rate and then the last 250m flat out. After the first one I was hurting…then we had to do a second one! I think that all of us wanted to throw up after the second one. But the times were amazing and the first 1000 was even close in overall time to our best ever. Not bad considering the rate was capped during the middle of the piece! This bodes well for racing in Poland! We had done so well that we were given the afternoon off from rowing and just had to do a pool session. So once that was done we were off to do some exploring of the local area.

I must say again that the buildings amaze me with how long they have lasted. It certainly shows me that the way things were built hundreds of years ago certainly were built better than anything now-a-days! We headed just down the road from our hotel to the local municipal buildings of Biandronno (which is the town our hotel is situated in). Here we found the Post Office and local town square fountain, so had a look around. We then walked down the road (sticking as close to the side buildings as possible, as there is no footpath) and stopped at a couple of buildings that had intrigued me every day that we passed by them. They looked like buildings that would have been used as housing a long time ago but were now used as out buildings as there were newer homes attached. But amazing structures!

We then had a look at the local church. As today was the Feast of the Assumption, I assumed that the church would be in use, but it wasn’t and the door was wide open, so we decided to have a look inside. It was absolutely beautiful with such an ornate ceiling with the most magnificent paintings. No one was around and the silence was deafening. A few minutes later we were asked to leave by a local woman who came in. We didn’t understand why but we assume it was because Lisa and I both had sleeveless shirts on, while Matt had open toed shoes. But we had our pictures and were quite willing to make a quick exit.

We then headed to the town of Gavirate which is the town the rowing club is located. Due to the fact that it was a public holiday, we were only able to find one café open, so stopped there to have a coffee. It was time to start heading back to the hotel, but Matt decided to take us on a tour of the area going through towns with names of Monate, Ispra and Brebbia. He was trying to find a building he had seen during his morning bike ride, but got us lost so we headed back to the hotel!

After dinner we were told that we could sleep in the following morning, do another pool session and we would row in the afternoon. It was nice not to have to get up and get going right away. We all met and had a leisurely breakfast. We met at the pool at 9:30 a.m., did our pool session and then I just sat in the sun reading a book. God it has been a long time since I just sat and read a book!

After lunch we headed to the course, where I must say it was extremely hot! It got up to 35 degrees, not one bit of wind and the water looked like glass. The humidity was so high that within 5 minutes we were all sweating so much we were soaked! We were told to just do a steady state row and we also did some drills, then got off the water. Tomorrow is another testing day with short race pieces.

We had a team dinner tonight where Ray Ebert (team manager), Andrew Matheson and Noel Donaldson all spoke to us about the upcoming days and then introduced our Olympic Gold Medallist David Crawshay to speak to us.

David is always awe-inspiring to listen to and this night was no different. He talked to all of us about having confidence in ourselves, our crew and coach, and to believe in our abilities. I know that I left that dinner believing in our crew more than I ever have!

Fantastic Day!

I have so much to say today, what an amazing day! I am sure that I say this every time I write on this blog, but each day just keeps getting better.

We were hoping to race the Italians today, but Pedro was unable to get in touch with them, I like to think they were just too scared to race us!!! We did 3 x 500m race pieces today and I must say “we were flying”!

Our first start was absolutely amazing and even with one crew member crabbing (which means they caught their oar under the water) we were still able to manage a 2 second personal best (pb)! The second and third 500’s weren’t too shabby either, with both of them as fast as we have ever gone. Mind you by the end we were all stuffed as we should have been. Henry even just about chucked on Lisa! That means that he was working his butt off!

I know that I haven’t put too many pictures in of Lake Varese that is because I have always been in the boat and don’t have a camera with me, so I have borrowed some from “Bilko”, our support member and he has taken over 400 photos so far!

Every day we sit in our boat and look at the amazing scenery. I keep pinching myself to make sure I am really here and not dreaming. I don’t think that if I lived here I would ever get complacent about these mountains, they are magnificent.

We were very happy after that session to hear that we had the afternoon off. Time to explore!!! Mind you only after the physio appointments that a few of us had.

We decided that we would all travel into the city of Varese minus Alex as she was meeting up with her parents for dinner. So in two cars we headed towards the unknown! With Bilko driving one car and Pedro the other, we headed towards Varese Centro. After a couple of wrong turns and u-turns we made it to a car park, left the cars and continued on foot. Now this is what I think of when I think of Italy.

The building architecture is fascinating to me, such ornate structures with Juliette balconies and flowers hanging from them, each of the homes a different colour.

We all stopped at a café and I finally had my first Italian coffee. Now I am not much of a coffee drinker and most of my friends would know but oh my god the cappuccino that I had was the best I have ever had! A few of us had the cappuccinos, Lisa had what I would describe as melted chocolate and Henry had an ice coffee which was just a huge glass of iced espresso. Now Henry doesn’t sleep at the best of times and I am sure that this coffee is not going to help the situation. I think that we should consider giving him one of these before we race!

After our coffee stop we all split up because some of us wanted to do different things. So Pete and I headed off exploring the landscape/architecture. We came upon a beautiful clock tower that was attached to a church. We heard an amazing choir singing and headed towards the sound. I figured they were practicing for the weekend service. So we snuck in a side door to see if we could listen and didn’t I step foot into the front of the church where low and behold the whole congregation was standing looking at me! Pete had been behind me following and needless to say as I backed up I just about ran into him, whispering that there was a service happening! We certainly high-tailed it out of there. We were able to walk around to the main entrance of the church and just have a peak in, seems that I forgot that Catholics hold a Friday mass! It is a religious day tomorrow called the “Feast of Assumption”. But how was I to know that!

We continued on our journey through an archway across from the church and came upon a small piazza with quite a few café’s. When we stopped to take some pictures the whole place stopped, it must have been the walking stick and artificial leg!

We finally met up with the rest of the troupes and it was very funny because if you have ever been in Italy you will know that they have these pedestrian crossing’s painted on the roads but none of the cars stop for you. It is up to the pedestrian to make it across quickly before the next car comes. Well when you have one wheelchair, one prosthetic leg, one walking stick and one blind person using a stick, it is amazing how fast cars actually come to a halt! I think every other pedestrian was happy that we were around…safety crossing the road!

We decided that we had better head back to the hotel as it was almost time for dinner, but we first had to work out where the heck we were and how to get out of Varese Centro. Bilko just followed the traffic which seemed like around in circles but we eventually managed to make it back to the hotel.

One of the best parts of the day was when Pete and I walked into the dining area and were approached by one of the coaches of the women’s crew, Larissa. She said to us that she saw us row today and said that she was very impressed with what she saw! This was a fantastic complement!

We are all so pumped after how we rowed today that it makes looking forward to tomorrow’s row even better!