Hello "sports" fans! Today was a day that many athletes dread... seat racing. This is when your coach uses a series of side by side races to determine which individuals or groups of individuals move the boat the fastest. It could make the difference whether or not you make the top boat. Call it time trials, try outs or seat racing the bottom line is, it's gonna be a lot of hard work and pain and ultimately some will go away happy and others bitterly disappointed. Not all that unlike the Olympics.
Speaking of the Olympics, this is Eton College's home of rowing, the beautiful multi-lane regatta course at Dorney Lake. Also the home of the 2012 Olympic rowing venues and our seat racing venue on this crisp February morning. Now my British and international rowing buddies will probably say I'm being a typical, up beat, overly enthusiastic American however I'm telling you there is something very special about this place. You can feel the energy coming off of every part of it, it vibrates right off the water and invites you to row your heart out. Many will argue that Henley Royal is the purest of the rowing events, others the great head races on the famous Oxford-Cambridge stretch of the Thames tideway but for me, this is where it's at.
The seat races began with three coxed "fours." That's a boat with four rowers (one blade each) and one person steering (the coxswain or cox for short). We all row up to 1250 meters then spin and line up side by side, each boat choosing a lane. Coach Tom says "GO!" and you're off, rowing 1200m as consistently but strongly as you can. The rate is capped at 28 strokes per minute, so with all three boats rowing at the same rate it really comes down to power and technique. Whoever can get the most "run" out of their boat is going to cross the finish line first.
I had the formidable task of stroking today. Stroke seat is the person who sits directly in front of the cox and sets the pace and the rhythm for everyone else in the boat. In this photo you can see me "stroking" the pair with my amazing partner Hayley. It's a high pressure seat, you can either make or break the rowing experience for everyone if you can't stroke at a steady pace. You also have to be on top form with every part of your stroke because everyone else in that boat is going to be copying your movements. One sloppy stroke and you could wind up throwing off everyone else.
Seems that people either love or hate the pressure of being the "stroke." It requires some rather imposing characteristics. You have to be stubborn, tenacious, unyielding, analytical, a perfectionist, a bit OCD and somewhat cocky and arrogant. Yeah you guessed it... I love stroke seat! It appeals to my scientific "what can I adjust to make this go faster?" nature. I welcome the mental merged with physical challenge, being tall I like controlling the pace of the boat but most of all I really enjoy the leadership roll.
So how did I do in the five races I rowed? Well I really can't say. It's not that I don't know who crossed the finish line first for each of the five races, I do. Its just that there are a lot of different variables to be taken into consideration. The margins of distance between the boats have to be looked at, swapping of individuals has to be taken into account and consistency. Also, it's good sportsmanship to neither gloat nor grumble about one's performance. I will tell you this though, today I felt inspired! I enjoyed every race, we pushed hard and moved the boat well on a beautiful day at an amazing place. For a moment there whilst rowing the pair I could almost here the Olympic crowds cheering in the background but it was only my coach on his megaphone saying "the crowd is now saying to relax your inside shoulder!" Hayley and I burst out laughing after which the megaphone boomed again "and now the crowd wants you to row square-blades for the rest of the way!" Ah well! It was a great moment while it lasted.
