Puddles (race report)

Got up at 6 as usual, weighed myself and decided I could take the hotel breakfast.

At 8:30 we headed for the start area, to be in time for the juniors 2- to start.

Romana would be active with the car: shouting encouragement from the bank at various places along the course and towing a small trailer to shuttle a few club singles from the finish back to the start. I sat down in one of the microbuses our club had in the start area and tried to relax.

Race boat storage area in the morning:

Views from the car:

I read a bit, Modermismen by Kees van Kooten. Good reading stuff for several reasons. These are light short pieces, a few pages each, written with humor. And, I used to be in school with the author’s daughter. She is two years younger than I am, and was a Dutch film star in the nineties and naughties.

12:20 time for the weigh in.  My own scale gave me -500g with all rowing clothes on. The weigh in was at 2.6kg below the limit. All rowers were smiling at the weigh in.

Ate and drank a bit. Then took pictures of men’s pairs and singles going to the start.

Mr Synek rowing to the start:

  

Then it was time for me to prepare for the start. With 2km to row to the start I decided to hit the water early, 30 minutes before the 14:21 start time.

All went well until it was my turn and the starter announced 30 seconds to go for me, bow nr 351.

Two singles shot by me, bow nrs 345 and 348 I believe (not sure). I shouted at them: is this allowed??? Their coach on the bicycle said yes this is allowed, come on boys. My he starter announced 10 seconds to my start and started to count down.

The way this race is started: your start time is given (14:21:00 for me) and your time starts running from that minute on the clock, wether you are at the start or not.

Still I was annoyed when I started, rowing in their puddles.

What the heck, I am out of the starting blocks and racing, two singles in my rear view mirror and another one chasing me 30 seconds behind me. This is head racing.

After 1500m I passed one of those rogue scullers who couldn’t show at the start on time. Sweet revenge. The guy stopped rowing the moment I passed him and started to fondle with his oarlock. 🙂 Theater, I thought.

The other rogue single sculler was a harder nut to crack, and the guy behind me was gaining on me.  I took him over somewhere between 2k and 2.5k.

The situation: you have just passed two guys and are doing 29spm into a headwind. Another guy is successfully chasing you down. You are getting tired.

To be continued …