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!

First race tomorrow!

The maple leaf is on the blade! Ready to race! I am very excited and honoured to represent Canada tomorrow in our heat. Preparations are complete, we are ready and fired up! We are racing against; Russia, France, Romania and Australia. The first boat across the line will go directly to the final on Sunday! Race time is 5:21pm local time. (11:21am Ontario, 9:21am Alberta, 8:21am Victoria)

Unfortunately races are not on live video feed but you can follow a live-tracker that will give updates via places and times during the race. Here is the link: http://www.worldrowing.com/ Click on the live-tracker and look for the W8+.

Thank you for your support! Go Canada!

Arrived in Amsterdam

We arrived in Amsterdam a couple days ago and have settled nicely into our hotel and got right into preparations. Our mode of transportation to and from the course is by bicycle. I really enjoy biking to the course as I feel like a local, but we certainly don't look like locals as we have to wear helmets. We get a lot of strange looks!

Rowing Canada has a tradition that World Championships is one of the few events in which the blades will have a maple leaf on them. (Other times the blades are just red and white without the maple leaf.) Last night we received the stickers that we put on our blades. Now I just have to wait for a time when it's not raining to put them on.

World Championship are around the corner!

We arrived safely in Italy a few days ago and went straight to work and back into training. We are staying and training in the safe place as we did when we were here a month ago. It makes it easy to adjust to a routine quickly as it is a familiar place, our home away from home in Europe. Next Wednesday we will be flying to Amsterdam and preparing for our first race. Racing begins on Sunday the 24th but our heat is on Tuesday the 26th with reps on the 28th and the final on the 31st. There are 11 crews in our event which is more than other years. It's great for women's rowing as it means there are more women in our sport!

World Rowing has put together a great article about the event with some random fact tidbits.
http://www.worldrowing.com/news/large-entry-for-2014-world-rowing-championships-amsterdam

Happy Rowing!

World Championships

It's official! I'm going to the World Championships in Amsterdam to compete against the world in the Womens 8+! We are leaving August 11th to train in Italy for a week and then we travel to Amsterdam to race and put our year of training to the test. I'm very excited to represent my country along with my teammates! I'm also very excited to be able to see my parents in the stands! Thanks for making the trip Mom and Dad! I love you!

http://www.rowingcanada.org/news-events/news/2014-rowing-canada-aviron-senior-national-team-announced

Back in Canada

Thank you everyone for all your support and kind words while I was racing! It means a lot to me and keeps me energized! I am now back in Canada and very happy to be with my London family and my friends. It was a great trip with lots of training and great racing! So proud to be a part of this great team and be able to make history together in Lucerne. Being the first Canadian women's 8+ to win a gold in Lucerne is very special as well as bringing Leslie Thompson-Willie her first gold here in 34 years. Here is a link to the race http://www.worldrowing.com/photos-videos/videos/2014-world-rowing-cup-iii-116134 if you missed it.

Our Canadian team had a great weekend of racing coming home with 4 medals. Gold for the eight, silver for the women's quad, bronze for both the lightweight women's double and the men's four. Fantastic job Canada! This link has the highlights from the racing. http://www.cbc.ca/player/Sports/Top+Stories/ID/2473459369/

                                            These photos are from the worldrowing website.

Final Race

Today was an incredible race! We had a plan and executed it and came out on top! This is the first time that Canada has won gold in the women's eight here in Lucerne. I am so proud to be able to be a part of this crew! After a night of celebration we are traveling back to Canada to get back to business and prepare for World Championships in Amsterdam at the end of August.

I am looking forward to going back home and seeing my friends and sleeping in my own bed!

Thank you so much for all your support during this trip. I really appreciate it!

5% Chance of No Rain in Lucerne

This years weather in Lucerne has been very wet. The joke here is that there is a 5% chance of no rain. The compound where all the boats are has become a huge mud pit. It has come to the point where wearing shoes is useless and my flip flops just get stuck in the mud so I'm now walking around bare foot.

Today was the first day of racing for the regatta. Our first race is tomorrow, so we had a couple training sessions working around the racing schedule. We were able to cheer on some our teammates this afternoon. It was a successful day of racing for our country with every crew advancing directly to the A final or to the A/B semifinals. Great start for Canada!

 

This afternoon I had a little bit of free time to explore Lucerne. There was a unique outdoor shopping  area with several buildings that were painted with some cool artwork and a very cool statue. Despite the rain, this city is really pretty and always bustling with tourists. 

Site seeing is over now, time to race! Our race for lanes is tomorrow at 11:42am local time (5:42am EST; 2:42am PST). There is no live video for this race but you can follow the live tracker on the worldrowing website. http://www.worldrowing.com/events/2014-world-rowing-cup-iii/ Just click on the event you want to follow. It's shows the progression of the race with each countries flag moving down the course. My event is the W8+.

Thanks for all your support! We feel the love over here! Go Canada!

The Europe Tour Continues

Our training camp in Italy has come to an end and we have traveled on to Lucerne, Switzerland were we will be racing World Cup III. Racing begins on Friday but our first race in the 8+ is on Saturday which will be a race for lanes, and then the final is on Sunday.

Training went well in Italy despite a little injury that took me off the water for a few practices. I am happy to say that I am healthy again and ready to race! While we were in Italy we had a day off and some of us took the train into Milan and explored the city for a few hours. We went to the Duomo which is a gorgeous European Catholic church. Milan is also big for fashion and the shopping there was crazy. I was too overwhelmed with the crowds and lineups I didn't actually buy anything. When we got back to our hotel we went to the lake and cooled off for a bit. Here are some pictures from the day.
(Photos courtesy of Jennifer Martins)

                                                        

 

On our final day in Italy, there was a really big storm that rolled into town. Great cracks of thunder with lots of lightning! It was really incredible to watch the storm develop and roll in. A teammate of mine, Kristin Bauder, was able to capture a photo of a lightning bolt hitting the lake. 

Chamonix, France

On Monday, the day after the regatta, we traveled back to Corgeno, Italy. On our way we stopped at a small town called Chamonix which is in the French Alps. We took a gondola to the top of L'Aiguille du Midi. This mountain is 3842m and there is 45% less oxygen on top. From that peak you can see Mont Blanc which is the highest mountain in western Europe. I could really feel the lack of oxygen as walking around and climbing the few stairs there were was challenging. It was a wonderful side trip, and to see God's beauty was spectacular. Now back to business and training for the next two weeks.

I will let the pictures speak for themselves from the day in Chamonix.

Day 3 of Racing

Today we raced the final. It was a tough battle on the water against the Americans. We put up a good fight getting out in the lead fast and holding on. Unfortunately, their finish was stronger than ours and they beat us by 1.1 secs.

                                              Photo taken by Steve van Knotsenburg

Tomorrow we are traveling back to Corgeno, Italy to continue training and preparing for World Cup III in Lucerne, Switzerland in three weeks.

Thank you for all your support this weekend! God Bless!

Day 2 of Racing

Today consisted of lots of racing for team Canada. I did not have a race but was at the course doing a workout and cheering on my teammates. We had many crews racing well today with six crews advancing to the A finals tomorrow and three crews in the B final. A really great showing today!

Our race tomorrow is at 1:33pm local time (7:33am EST; 4:33am PST). There will be live video feed of the racing tomorrow, and you can find the link at www.worldrowing.com 
We will be in lane 3, racing against; Germany, China, Great Britain and the USA. Going to be a great race!

Thank for all your support! Go Canada!

Day 1 of Racing

Today was a successful day of racing. The time trial went well and we posted the fasted time at 6:03. This places us in the middle lane, lane 3, for the final on Sunday. I now have a day to recover and prepare to put down our best race.

Our post race recovery today included some time in the lake. The water was chilly but quite refreshing, and the water was so clear that you could see some fish swimming around.

If you like to see some pictures from the racing take a look at the row2k website: http://www.row2k.com/gallery/pf_gal.cfm?dir=2014Summer/WC2/0620HeatsBigBoats&start=227&label=World%20Cup%20II%20-%20Heats%20-%20Fours,%20Quads,%20Eights&hi=yes#.U6R4QiiMZEM

Thanks for all your prayers and cheers! I can hear them over here!

Let the racing begin!

Tomorrow is the first day of racing! Preparation has been going well and we are all pumped and ready to light the course on fire!

Our time trial race is at 1:05pm local time (7:05am EST; 4:05am PST). Because this race is a time trial, there is no live feed of the race online, results will be posted on the website though.
You can find them here: http://www.worldrowing.com/events/2014-worldcup-2/schedule-results
 (my event is listed as W8+)

Rowing Canada has published a great article in preparation for this weekend listing all the crews racing including the men. I am very honoured to be a part of this great team and representing my country!
Go Canada!
You can find it here: http://rowingcanada.org/news-events/news/canadian-crews-set-go-battle-france