The End Is Just an Other Beginning

Though I have not writen in a little while, I could not bring myself to it. I also had a lot of things to do with junior year. The trip to Henley, England has been the best of my entire life. I can not express how much it meant to me and that this spring season is one I will never forget. I just want to say thank you to all my team members who I shared blood, sweat and tears with. I will never forget any of you. I had an amazing time from winter training, to spring break, to WMIRA, to Stotes, to Nationals, to training for Henley and finally to Henley. Also thank you to our coaches and especially Marc and Aliyah who made it possible for me to have this life changing experience. Thank you Johan, Jack, Richard, Greg, Peter, Jake, Denis, Joe, Marc, and Aliyah. You all have truly changed my life.


Now 6 of the nine rowers are off to college. 3 remain for an other season. Who will step up? How well can we do? Only time can tell.

32 Race; 16 Stay and 16 Go Home

Tuesday was the spares race which is about 1500m. Because there were 9 boats and the numbers didn't work out, our spares got to go straight to the semis. They raced and won and then had to race the MIT spares. They lost but being beat by a college crew is one great way to go.

Yesterday was our first race. We were all very nervouse, but for no reason. We won our first race! Now we just need to prepare for the second race.

Reading and Empacher

In between all of us using the computer, jet lag, and not much interesting events to write about I have not been writing. But here is a recap of the past few days. Saturday was the Reading town regatta. It is 700m and is basically a sprint the whole way so bigger crews (which we are not)have a big advantage. We were entered into two events: the school boy 8 event and the intermediate 8 event. We lost the former by one seat to a big crew and we lost the later to a college Irish crew. We were a little disapointed but now we are focused on Henley and ready to take some names!

Sunday was more of a relaxing/recovering day for us. We had a light row in the morning (drills and stready state at an 18 for three laps) and then we went to luch and to the movies to see Transformers II. When we got back marc had a surprise for us. He had borrowed an other boat for us to try. He borrowed an '04 Empacher from a crew who didn't make it into the race (they are realy good boats that most UK crews use, they are also very expensive in the US). After rowing it we fell in love. The old Resolute was a lightweight boat but we needed a midweight boat so this Empacher was perfect.

Race day is arriving very fast. I can see all of the final preparations being made. All of the tents and stands are almost done and the course is almost done being built (yes, every year they rebuild the course and the stands and the boatracks and all of the platforms and barriers on the race course, it is very impressive and must be great for this little town).

BTW: For those who are interested (Henley is a nock out style race) the draw has been picked to view it click here (we are in the Princess Elizabeth Challenge),

Our First Real Day

Waking up was a little difficult. We left the house a half hour later than expected. When we got to the course we took the bout out for our fist real practice (drilling, steady state @ 18 and some tens). The college coxswains are a little more aggressive and impatient than they should be though. We had a good first run through and the outlook on this trip is very good. For lunch we were given money and we were allowed to go through town and find a place to eat. We all ate at a pizza place. After lunch we returned home and some rested while others played in the pool. We then returned to the course to row again. This time we did harder pieces (3x 4min. @ 32, 33, 34). All went well and we were ready for dinner at the end of the day. After dinner we all did our own thing and soon there after went to sleep.

BTW: because I have no Internet on my laptop: first it might be hard to post something every day, second I haven't found a way to put pictures or video so I will do that when I get home.

Here We Go

After practice Monday morning we were all very excited. We met at the airport and after two hours of check-in we were finally on the plane. The very nice captain even announced that we were on the plane to the rest of the plane. Eight hours later we were in Heathrow. US airport security was nice enough to unwrap all of our oars but they still arrived undamaged. We got on the bus where we dropped off the oars. Our boat was waiting there. It will do the job. We then went to our temporary house. The Webb family is very nice and has an old wooden house that dates back hundreds of years before the pilgrims established the first colony in America. We went back to the race course and walked the entire course. After five hours of Marc's devotion and skill, the boat had all of our correct adjustments and preferences. We then took the boat out for a spin. There are already a lot of people and navigation is very difficult. That night we went back to the house and ate dinner. Some of us then went in to the pool and swam for a long time. Finally after getting through a 40 hour day we were allowed to sleep. Eager to do so we all crashed.

'09 Season Highlights

This year started off on some uncertain footing. We had a new coach, Marc Mandel (can't blame us we had no idea what he would be like, but we are so glad he came, thanks Marc) which always is a shaky transition period. But from the beginning it was obvious that he wanted the program to succeed. He was there before and after we arrived, organising, labeling, fixing, making, readjusting, installing, anything that would make the various jobs easier and the boats faster.

After winter training ended the real test stated. How fast could we go? We went out and rowed and practiced and erged from time to time and got faster and faster. After weeks of training we finally got a first boat: Coxswain: Johannes Schmidt, eight: Alex Casey, seven: Jack Devlin, six: Richard Johnston, five: Greg Beckwith, four: Peter Prominski, three: Jake Brennen, two: Denis Leahy, and one: Joe Hanlon.

Our first race went without a hitch and the rest of the season went by just fine. (to see the entire season see our crew website) But, our big worries were the huge end of the year races, Stotesbury and Nationals. This was the real test to see exactly how fast we were.

Though we came in one short of first we were all ecstatic. The program had never gotten this far. Now all we could think about was what we could do at Nationals.

Winning Nationals was the best thing in my life. That made up for all the hours of rowing and erging and the pain and the throwing up and the sleepiness. That was beyond words. But an even better bonus was that I realized that the wins were not just for us but for all the alumni and the whole team but that in the boat are the physical bodies of nine people but the spirits and hopes of so many more. This video really shows the depth of these feats.

Then the whispers started. I heard from a team member that the alumni wanted us to go to the Henley Royal Regatta and that there would be fundraising to send us all the way. I first dismissed them as just a little too much optimism. But, after one practice Marc came up to us and asked us to talk with him privately. He then asked us if we wanted to go to Henley. Of course the answer was: YES! From then on everything started to move at lightning speed. And now the Gonzaga Mens First Eight is going to the Henley Royal Regatta.

Intro

Inspired by my coach, Aliyah Snyder (check out her blog), I am creating a blog on my favorite pass time, ROWING. I do crew and am slightly obsessed with it. I might not write a lot or write all the time, but i think this is a great way for people to explore this sport, for entertainment for those who do row and for documentation for myself and others.I am a junior at Gonzaga College High School and we are the Gonzaga Crew.