Pan American Games

After learning how to row on starboard, I was presented with the opportunity to challenge for a seat in the women's pair to compete at the Pan American Games which were hosted in Toronto. I was very excited to have this new opportunity because it meant that I could still represent Canada and race.

After some selection and being switched between port and starboard a couple times, I won a seat on starboard and my pair partner was Kristin Bauder. We were both very ecstatic to be able to race for our country in front of our family and friends! We had about a month to prepare for the race. We learned how to work together technically and communicate through calls so that we could execute our best race.

The Pan American Games are a multi-sport event, similar to an Olympic Games. The countries that can compete are North, South and Central America. Some of these countries don't qualify for the Olympics so the Pan Am Games are the biggest race they will take part in.

As these games were hosted in Toronto, and we are the home country, our federation allowed us to take part in the opening ceremonies. (Usually we don't walk through the opening ceremonies because racing begins the next day.) Walking through the opening ceremonies was such an awesome experience. The whole Rogers Center was erupting with Canadian fans waving flags and cheering! It felt like I was part of Team Canada, not just the rowing team. A very surreal experience!

 

Our event, women's pair, had six boats entered so we had two races. Our first race was preliminary which seeds you into a lane for the final. Our preliminary race was on Saturday and we had a very close race with Chile. We edged them out by less than half a second for 2nd place behind the USA. Our final was on Monday and we knew it was going to be tough against Chile. We went out hard off the start and really pushed our limits in the first 1000m. We may have spent a bit too much as we didn't quite get the Chileans at the finish line. We finished third behind the USA and Chile, respectively. I am very proud of what Kristin and I did. We overcame personal hurdles and challenges as a crew. It was a fantastic experience! 

A winter update!

It has been another long break from blogging, but winter training isn't too exciting. It consists of lots of kilometers on the water and once the lake freezes we put lots of time on the ergometer. During the winter months we go south, to Florida, for training camps. Training camps involve on water rowing as well as weights.  Our last training camp we did a seat racing matrix which is selection for racing boats for the summer. My personal goal was to maintain my seat from last summer in the women's eight. The selection results didn't end up the way I wanted but I gave my best effort and have no regrets for the effort I put forward in the racing. It's a hard pill to swallow, thinking that your best effort is not enough to make a racing boat, it's difficult to pick up and move on. so, my summer plans were changed and but some new skills were about to be learned.

After not getting a seat in the eight, my coach switched me sides and now I am rowing on starboard. The last time I rowed starboard was in high school. 9 years ago! It was such a confusing motion to learn a new side. You are doing the same motion but rotating in the opposite direction. I have to learn to create new brain synapses to do the motion properly. This happened in March but I have enjoyed the challenge of learning a new side of sweeping. There have been frustrating days but also epiphany days! I can now say that I am bi-sweeptual! An excellent skill to have that can open an extra door for the future of my rowing. Rowing both sides means twice as many seats to challenge for!

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

At the end of September our World Champ team took a trip to Rio to check out the Olympic venue and area. The purpose of the trip was to get to know the area and familiarize ourselves with the culture and climate. I found the trip beneficial as I was anxious going down to Brazil with concerns from others, and a friend of mine was robbed down there too. The trip eased my anxiety and showed me the culture as well! It was a fantastic trip!

Our trip included some tourist activities. We climbed the two brothers which is quite steep and quick for a climb, but the view is totally worth it! We also went to the Christ the Redeemer statue and saw more great views. We also had a bus tour of what will be the Olympic venues in 2016, and of course we spent some time on the beach!

 The view on the right is from the mountains on the left, known as the Two Brothers. The lake behind me in the photo on the right is the lagoa in which rowing will take place during the Olympics.

 These will be some of the venues for the Games. Still need some work.

A little R&R on the beach a block from our hotel!

The photo on the right is some artwork on the walls of homes in the favela we walked through. Favela is another term for slums. There are a number of them in Brazil and we walked through one to go on our hike up the Two Brothers. The artwork on the walls of the homes are quite beautiful and colourful.

SILVER!!!

Silver medal performance today! It was a tough race, not the result we were wanting but a great result nonetheless!

It has been an incredible year of personal learning and personal victories; mentally, physically and spiritually. I wouldn't have been able to do this without the ongoing love and support from family and friends and most importantly from God. He gets all the glory!

Now I have 3 weeks vacation and some quality R & R with the family and friends in Victoria!

Cheers! Go Canada!

It's GO time

Tomorrow is the day! 1:48pm the light turns green and we blast off the start line! All the blood, sweat and tears come down to 2000m and roughly 6 minutes. I've learned a lot this past year and have so many family and friends to thank for all the support and love that has helped me through. Alright, enough with the sappiness. Let's GO!

www.worldrowing.com

This is the online video feed link where you can watch the racing. 1:48 local time, 7:48am Ontario; 5:48am Alberta, and 4:48am Victoria! See you at the finish line!

Won the heat!

We won our heat and posted the exact same time as the Americans who won the other heat (6:20.96). Sundays final is going to be a great show down! We now have 3 days to prepare for the final and fine tune our technique and rhythm.

An update on our Canadian team. Our women's team has 5 boats in the A final and one B final. This is fantastic for our program and country. Winter training pays off! On the men's side, they have one boat in the A final, one boat in the B final and 3 boats in the C final. The competition is very stiff here and it's no easy feat racing against any country. You can't be sure of the result until you cross the finish line.

Thank you for all your support for our country and team! It means a lot to us!

Weather delay

Our race today was cancelled due to weather conditions which caused unfair lane advantages. We were about to put our boat in the water when the officials came and told us to put our boat back and that racing was cancelled. That news definitely changes how your mind works. I was pumped on adrenaline and ready to race, but then we couldn't and I kind of had an emotional break down. It was weird because I was getting emotional over the dumbest stuff. Nonetheless, I have recovered and am ready to bring the heat tomorrow (no pun intended)! We will be racing our heat tomorrow at 1:53pm local time. (7:53am Ontario, 5:53am Calgary, 4:53am Victoria). First boat across the line goes directly to the A final on Sunday.

Racing results will be on www.worldrowing.com and you can follow the live-tracker as we race down the course. Go Canada!