Novembro 7, 2008
Another whirlwind tour of the world
Well the end of October is nearly upon us which means I have nearly been away from NZ for a month already.
Time has flown by and I have done a lot in the last few weeks. It has all been fun but I need a few days to relax and recover from the barrage I have put my body through over the last couple of weeks.
It all started 4 weeks ago, I set off from NZ and headed directly for Norway for Olaf Tufte’s wedding. It was a good week involving a bit of training and lots of wedding preparations. The day before the wedding, Olaf got the boys together and we headed to Lillehammer for a ride on a bobsleigh, or as they call it ‘taxi bob’ We arrived at the track and first thing that hit us was the cold, after rugging up we went over to the track to watch a few luge riders fly past at around 130KM/hr. That put some perspective on what we were about to do and it was hard to tell if it was the cold or the nerves that were making some of the worlds top rowers quiver.
The ride was amazing! 3 rowers, 1 professional driver, an old bobsleigh, 1.6KM of ice, 16 corners, 125KM/Hr, 5 G’s and 56Seconds later it was all over. We could hardly fit in the bobsleigh let alone even think of a running start. We sat there and were pushed off. As we started we slowly picked up speed and were wondering what all the fuss was about. After turn 3 it felt like we were flying, our bodies were parallel with the earth as we rounded the corners, we were holding on for dear life and continuing to accelerate. We just sat there while the driver thought about the steering, you cant use breaks and there are 2 points in each corner where you can try and turn. Get it wrong and you crash or leave the track. After about 5 corners it was awesome, we were doing around 120KM an hour, flying down the track and the people on the side were blurs. I didn’t think we could go any faster and was hoping the driver knew what he was doing. We continued to accelerate and it was about this stage I completely lost any sense of how many corners there were left, held on and hoped we would make it. I was both relieved and disappointed when it was over, you want it to continue as was amazing but you are glad to finish unscathed. I did want to go up for a 2nd ride but the ice was new and as we had 3 loads of us only a couple got a second attempt.
That was a good start to an exciting weekend. It all started on Friday night when we were having a couple of beers when the rain started falling. After an hour or so we realised the marquee was about to flood so the 10 guys all picked up shovels and we digged ditches to channel the water to the drain. After getting soaking wet and averting the disaster we went to sleep. The next day was wedding day, It was great and while a little different to a NZ wedding we understood most of what was going on, even if not word for word. We had a good party and then the weather once again intervened. This time it was wind and rain and one by one the lights were dropping off the roof of the marquee, I tried to do some running repairs but then got hit in the head by one falling from the roof, suddenly the marquee was giving way and looking like it might fall down. It was action stations and everyone still at the wedding chipped in to clear the tent and get everything to safety of the sheds and house. We woke in the morning to find the tent still standing and a lovely sunny day, hard to believe what had happened a few hours earlier.
From Norway it was back to the contrast of the USA and Las Vegas. This place is unreal, everything is huge and it just blows your mind about the amount of money it would have cost to build it. I was staying at the Luxor, which is a large glass pyramid, pretty impressive and something you would probably only see in Dubai or Vegas. To give you a scale of things there is a development currently happening which is costing $9 Billion US in the centre of the strip (some say there is a financial crisis!) One day Thornton and myself ventured out in a helicopter to the grand canyon, it was very impressive but what blew me away most was how Vegas is a city bang smack in the middle of the nowhere/dessert, they have done phenomenally well to attract tourists (89% occupancy rate in hotels) as without gambling and impressive buildings they wouldn’t have much!
Next stop was San Francisco, coincidence got us there in what is called Fleet Week, basically the navy come to town, show off and prove the might and strength they have, by flying planes all around the place. The Blue angels were flying and I was impressed with what they could do in an airplane. I don’t think I’m young enough as I wasn’t about to run off and sign up to the Navy, which is the response they want. San Francisco is an awesome city and got to see the major sights although was not there long enough to get to see everything so will have to go back for another trip.
The bigness of the USA was starting to take its toll along with the light training regime of the last few months. By the time I showed up in Boston to prepare for the Head Of the Charles I was getting back to my tubby glory days. Once I got back into training 2 sessions a day I realised the 4 weeks extra time off than we usually have, along with the extra weight was starting to take its toll on my fitness. This was by no means unexpected and all part of my long term plan. I want to go on for another 4 years so its important I take time now to relax and refresh so I’m ready for the intensity of full time training when I come back. The problem was I was racing in a couple of days and out of shape. No problem these regattas are fun and I am never in my top shape when I race them, just get out there and enjoy it and hopefully the 7 years of training will pull you through.
It was a great few days preparing and there was a good feel in the kiwi camp, Emma Twigg and Juliette Haigh were racing the double, Joseph Sullivan, Nathan Cohen and myself were all in the single. In the race I was starting in the number 1 spot with Nathan Cohen in 2 and Joseph back in 16. It’s a time trial with about 10seconds between each sculler. After the first kilometre I was feeling pretty good and strong and thought maybe the time off wasn’t going to be too bad, through the middle of the race Nathan was gaining on me and after 3K I was hanging out for the race to be over, Nathan was right on my stern and I was feeling the effects of the lack of training. The only thing that was getting me through was not wanting Nathan to pass me. At the third timing mark I was 2nd fastest after Nathan but then the wheels feel off, there was no fitness left and I couldn’t get away with it any longer. There was only 800M left but I couldn’t hold Nathan any longer and could see the rest of the field all gaining on me. The splits will show I lost a further 11 seconds to Nathan in the last 800M and at least 9seconds to the rest of the field, slipping from 2nd to 6th. It felt great to be back racing, although I wasn’t at my best I still raced as hard as I could and now know where I sit and how far I have to go to get back to full fitness.
After enjoying some Good old Boston hospitality and watching the Red Socks nearly make another amazing comeback, team kiwi got a rental car, somehow managed to get 4 people, a bike and 10 bags into it and set off on a road trip to New York. There was a short shopping trip on the way and we hit the big apple for a 2 day and 2 night supercharged tour of the city. We did everything we could to see as much as we could including the sights, a show, a night tour in the car and a night out with the Dutch rowers. Safe to say we were all a little tired when we hopped on the plane to head for Switzerland and the Armada cup.
This is still one of my all time favourite races, you have a mass start (this year with 290 singles) starting off together on a shot gun start. It was a quality field with the likes of Lassi Karonen and Olaf Tufte from the Olympic final and some youngsters like Nathan Cohen and other top lightweight rowers and Olympians. Anything can happen and did happen in this race. There was a lot of weed around the course this year and it took a couple of outings to try and find the best course through in the days leading up to the regatta. This race is 9K and approximately 34minutes long but everyone starts like they are starting a 2K race as there is a sharp 90 degree turn 1K into it. This would certainly test the fitness and I was happy to be in the top 5 going around the first bend. Tufte led but everyone was close after about 3K, when my boat suddenly died and I realised I had caught weed on the fin of my boat. I tried to shake it off with little success so had to stop and reverse to clear it before continuing, this put me back to about 12th place and out of touch with the leaders. I got back into my rhythm and slowly started to work my way back through the field. I was up to 6th place coming into the hardest part of the course (4K to go) when I turned around to see Olaf sitting in the midst of a clump of Reeds, it took him awhile to get free so I was now in 5th. The next few k’s I battled it out with Lassi and had to take on a few sand banks to try and get an advantage. With about 2K to go I looked around to see Nathan Cohen, stopped fighting with a tree stump. He just got free before I could pass him but I got a sniff and soon passed Lassi. Around the 2nd to last corner I was rowing with Nathan and saw the leaders go wide, it meant we had a chance as we cut the corner as close as we could and thankfully didn’t hit any sandbanks. The leaders saw this and covered us. I finally got ahead of Nathan and went after the two leaders, both young Olympians (from Estonia and Germany). While I made up some ground they had too big a lead and I had to be content with 3rd. I think this race felt easier than the week before as I was rowing slightly better, but still very tough and have now decided I need to loose some weight as its too tough dragging my fat down the course. Nathan came in 4th (winner of under 23′s), Olaf 5th and Lassi 6th, it was nice to get one back on Olaf after the Olympics!! Emma Twigg performed very well coming in 29th overall and winning the woman’s race ahead of Olympic Bronze medallist Karsten, Juliette finished out the kiwi teams efforts with a 4th place in the woman’s race in her first ever singles race.
Sunday was off to the UK and has been a pretty full on week. I have been catching up with friends including a trip to Oxford to catch up with another kiwi George Bridgewater. Today I raced another race in the single on the Thames taking out the Wingfield’s, this is a very old race dating back to 1830. It was good to defend my title I won last year with a row over, with a proper race this year. There were 4 other scullers and we race 7K over the boat race course (Putney to Mortlake). The water was very rough over the first half but then thankfully smoothed out. While I was always in front It was close all the way to the finish and I was never able to fully relax. The positive is my fitness continues to improve and my weight is slowly decreasing. At my peak I was 16KG heavier than what I was in the Olympic Final and am now down to about 10KG heavier!
From here I only have one week left on my tour, with arguably the toughest weekend next weekend. I will race the fours head in London on Saturday going for a hat trick of wins to flying to Turin Saturday evening to back up with the 11K Silver skiff race the next day. That will be a real test of my fitness.
Finally there is one more exciting event happening. For all those in NZ that want to see some top class racing you will get your first opportunity in Wanganui on the 7th December. To celebrate Billy Webb winning the World Sculling Championship 100 years ago in Wanganui, the Olympic Champion Olaf Tufte will come and race myself and one ‘wildcard’ over approximately 5KM on the Wanganui river. Would be great to have as many as you along as possible as should be a great event and an exciting race.
Well that’s all for now, see you soon
Mahe
