What a day!! What a great day!
It was hot one out there today! We parked ourselves in a shady spot along the waters edge where we can see all the action on the race course while enjoying a nice breeze that swept down the canal.
We started our day by arriving at race site for 10am with our first 200m heat race at 12:04. Our start was a little bit "off" but we managed to pull off a time of 58:31. It felt good and strong but we knew that we needed to tighten up the strokes in the start. So when we headed out to the start line for our 200m final we practiced a few starts and then we nailed it in the final! By this time the winds had changed and the water felt heavier, and of course the heat, but we still pulled out a time of 1:00:06.
Between our 200m final and our first ever 1000m race we had a few hours to rest and recharge. Many laughs were shared in our shady spot as we watched the racing action. We ate, stayed hydrated and kept as cool as possible.
Finally at 4:30(ish) we were called to marshalling for the 1000m race. This is the first year that Dragon Boat Canada has offered this race distance. Rowbust has never competed in a 1000m race but not for a lack of wanting to! Let's be honest...if there is racing happening we want a part of the action no matter what the distance! So we headed out to the start line. Unlike the 2000m race that is two big circles around the race course, the 1000m race is done straight down the race course. No turns, just long, hard strokes at a faster rate than a 2000m but slower than a 500m straight down the race course. We used the 750m paddle out to the start line as a great warm up for the race. Once we floated up to the start line with the other boats it wasn't long before the starter was calling us to "Attention" and we were taking the first strong, hard strokes to get our boat up and moving forward. And move we did! We kept our strokes long for the full 1000m. Laura (drummer) and Shirley (stern) called us in to many powers to keep us serging on. Crew members were calling out words of encouragement as we sped our way to the finish line. In the end, when Laura finally called "let it run" we felt amazing! We felt accomplished. We felt proud of the race we had just laid down.
Tonight was an evening to decompress and prepare ourselves physically and mentally for another full day of racing tomorrow.
We'll be back at race site for 8:00am tomorrow morning to do it all over again!
Saturday June 30/18 - Rowbust race schedule:
*10:10am - Race #57 - 500m heat
*11:50am - Race #67 - 500m final
*1:45pm - Race #73 - 2000m final
Pictures will be posted on the Facebook, Twitter & Instagram pages!
It was hot one out there today! We parked ourselves in a shady spot along the waters edge where we can see all the action on the race course while enjoying a nice breeze that swept down the canal.
We started our day by arriving at race site for 10am with our first 200m heat race at 12:04. Our start was a little bit "off" but we managed to pull off a time of 58:31. It felt good and strong but we knew that we needed to tighten up the strokes in the start. So when we headed out to the start line for our 200m final we practiced a few starts and then we nailed it in the final! By this time the winds had changed and the water felt heavier, and of course the heat, but we still pulled out a time of 1:00:06.
Between our 200m final and our first ever 1000m race we had a few hours to rest and recharge. Many laughs were shared in our shady spot as we watched the racing action. We ate, stayed hydrated and kept as cool as possible.
Finally at 4:30(ish) we were called to marshalling for the 1000m race. This is the first year that Dragon Boat Canada has offered this race distance. Rowbust has never competed in a 1000m race but not for a lack of wanting to! Let's be honest...if there is racing happening we want a part of the action no matter what the distance! So we headed out to the start line. Unlike the 2000m race that is two big circles around the race course, the 1000m race is done straight down the race course. No turns, just long, hard strokes at a faster rate than a 2000m but slower than a 500m straight down the race course. We used the 750m paddle out to the start line as a great warm up for the race. Once we floated up to the start line with the other boats it wasn't long before the starter was calling us to "Attention" and we were taking the first strong, hard strokes to get our boat up and moving forward. And move we did! We kept our strokes long for the full 1000m. Laura (drummer) and Shirley (stern) called us in to many powers to keep us serging on. Crew members were calling out words of encouragement as we sped our way to the finish line. In the end, when Laura finally called "let it run" we felt amazing! We felt accomplished. We felt proud of the race we had just laid down.
Tonight was an evening to decompress and prepare ourselves physically and mentally for another full day of racing tomorrow.
We'll be back at race site for 8:00am tomorrow morning to do it all over again!
Saturday June 30/18 - Rowbust race schedule:
*10:10am - Race #57 - 500m heat
*11:50am - Race #67 - 500m final
*1:45pm - Race #73 - 2000m final
Pictures will be posted on the Facebook, Twitter & Instagram pages!