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!