Rowbust's Crew 1 competed in Barrie August 23rd. Crew Captain Anne Hussey has recapped the event's of the weekend:
Well let's begin with Friday evening our various arrival times to Barrie. Thankfully Susan was texting everyone whom she knew to show up at a nice restaurant overlooking Kempenfelt Bay. Later many of us strolled along the water front checking on our tent site - Thank You Laurie A and Sharon for transporting and putting the tents up for us it's very much appreciated. By 10pm everyone had arrived at the hotel.
On Saturday morning we were "up and at 'em" as we were to be at the race site for 7:30 a.m., Ot was a bit chilly, overcast and windy. Very deceiving from where the dragon boats were docked and a different story once you turned the corner out into the bay area.
Before loading the boat Jill got us warmed up for our first race of the day which was the "The Anna Kwan Breast Cancer Challenge Cup" (thank you Jill for doing all the warm up exercises). Our competition was Barrie's Ribbons of Hope and Peterborough's Survivors Abreast.
We had been warned by the Pendragons and Coach Cheryl that the waters could be rough...Ha! "COULD BE"!? There were swells!! Poor Jill got totally soaked (as did many of us) just as we were paddling out to the starting line. That was fun, up and down, down and up the large size waves, a bit tense needless to say but thankfully we all knew to keep paddling as trained. Shirley kept us focused and we were in excellent hands with Mike as our stern. Not only was it windy with very choppy waters, there was a good cross current making it even more difficult to line the boats up at the start line. We had to HOLD HARD for the start and we were off! It was much easier during the race than going out to race. We had the wind at our backs and we were going with the waves instead of against them. It was close on our first 500m of the day, we almost had them...it was that paper clip moment . Barrie's Time - 2.50.78 3rd; Rowbust Time - 2:43.99 2nd; Peterborough's time 2:43.38. Shirley and Mike gave us a great debreif of our race back on the shore. We were on our game and lookin good! We made the phone call to Cheryl who was happy with the results and advised us to stick to the race plan......Coaches orders! Jill and Dianne did a great job of stroking for their first time, well done ladies.
The boats we raced in were 24 seaters with a divider plank between the paddlers. Not what we're used to but we can adapt!
Our time put us in the Silver Division for the remainder of the day.
The days excitement included a capsied boat! Here is a link to the Barrie News report!
http://streema.com/tv/play/CTV_Two_Barrie
I'm surprised that this did not happen to more of us. In chatting with one of the Barrie BCS paddlers she said she has never seen the waters that rough before....and there were no sea planes or other boats on the water.
The capsized boat and the time in getting boats out to the starting line, etc. put the race schedule off by at least an hour and a half. The decision was made to shorten the 500m races to 250m.
The breast cancer memory ceremony was very touching, not only did they recognize BCS and those lost but also childhood cancers and other types of cancers. There were a few tears for sure as we remembered our team mates who have past and loved ones and those who continue to fight.
After this ceremony we were presented with our medals for 2nd place. The gentleman who did the presentation was very nice, as you can see by the team photo Dianne was all over him like a "hen on a June bug"! He gave all of us a kiss on each cheek. Joan liked it so much she hid her medal to get more kisses - oh my the Italian men better watch out Joan is coming to town.
Susan managed to keep the troupes amused. She started a great round of charades that continued while standing in line in the marshaling area. Many took advantage of the time lag to visit the Flying Monkey Craft Brewery and of course to make significant purchases.
The 2nd race of the day we were to race against Survivors Abreast but they decided to leave so that left 3 boats. Two of those boats had rather large fellows on board and they were very surprised a boat full of ladies gave them a good run. We didn't make the finals for a medal standing but we were in the Silver Consolation Finals placing us 3rd.
Oh what F-U-N we had!!
Both Maggie and I were unsure of the decision to go to Barrie when we were choosing festivals for 2014, only because of all the rules and deadlines for team roster with absolutely no changes, electronic waiver issues, etc. But being there was a different story, it was a great community event. Everyone was having a great time except for poor Andy Gill who was taking care of Ruby (the dog, not our teammate) during the 1st race. Ruby escaped and Andy got injured He was tended to by St. John's but ended up having to go to hospital for antibiotics and I think a tetanus shot. It was great to see some of the hubbies out to watch their honey's paddle. Janice brought her son along, he's a photographer and most definitely got some good shots that he will share with us.
We also recognized our final paddling virgin of the 2014 season Linda Wharton. This was her first race, she did a great job and got a medal to boot.
Well done ladies, what can I say I am soooooooooooooo proud of each and every one of you! You've come a long way since Outer Harbour in May. Thank you for a great run and a super weekend, we must do this again next year.
To Shirley our photographer and drummer, Joan, Charlene and Wendy it was amazing having you join us and help us out. That's the great thing about Rowbust you make the call and no matter what they step up to the plate.
Submitted by:
Anne Hussey
Crew 1 Captain
Well let's begin with Friday evening our various arrival times to Barrie. Thankfully Susan was texting everyone whom she knew to show up at a nice restaurant overlooking Kempenfelt Bay. Later many of us strolled along the water front checking on our tent site - Thank You Laurie A and Sharon for transporting and putting the tents up for us it's very much appreciated. By 10pm everyone had arrived at the hotel.
On Saturday morning we were "up and at 'em" as we were to be at the race site for 7:30 a.m., Ot was a bit chilly, overcast and windy. Very deceiving from where the dragon boats were docked and a different story once you turned the corner out into the bay area.
Before loading the boat Jill got us warmed up for our first race of the day which was the "The Anna Kwan Breast Cancer Challenge Cup" (thank you Jill for doing all the warm up exercises). Our competition was Barrie's Ribbons of Hope and Peterborough's Survivors Abreast.
We had been warned by the Pendragons and Coach Cheryl that the waters could be rough...Ha! "COULD BE"!? There were swells!! Poor Jill got totally soaked (as did many of us) just as we were paddling out to the starting line. That was fun, up and down, down and up the large size waves, a bit tense needless to say but thankfully we all knew to keep paddling as trained. Shirley kept us focused and we were in excellent hands with Mike as our stern. Not only was it windy with very choppy waters, there was a good cross current making it even more difficult to line the boats up at the start line. We had to HOLD HARD for the start and we were off! It was much easier during the race than going out to race. We had the wind at our backs and we were going with the waves instead of against them. It was close on our first 500m of the day, we almost had them...it was that paper clip moment . Barrie's Time - 2.50.78 3rd; Rowbust Time - 2:43.99 2nd; Peterborough's time 2:43.38. Shirley and Mike gave us a great debreif of our race back on the shore. We were on our game and lookin good! We made the phone call to Cheryl who was happy with the results and advised us to stick to the race plan......Coaches orders! Jill and Dianne did a great job of stroking for their first time, well done ladies.
The boats we raced in were 24 seaters with a divider plank between the paddlers. Not what we're used to but we can adapt!
Our time put us in the Silver Division for the remainder of the day.
The days excitement included a capsied boat! Here is a link to the Barrie News report!
http://streema.com/tv/play/CTV_Two_Barrie
I'm surprised that this did not happen to more of us. In chatting with one of the Barrie BCS paddlers she said she has never seen the waters that rough before....and there were no sea planes or other boats on the water.
The capsized boat and the time in getting boats out to the starting line, etc. put the race schedule off by at least an hour and a half. The decision was made to shorten the 500m races to 250m.
The breast cancer memory ceremony was very touching, not only did they recognize BCS and those lost but also childhood cancers and other types of cancers. There were a few tears for sure as we remembered our team mates who have past and loved ones and those who continue to fight.
After this ceremony we were presented with our medals for 2nd place. The gentleman who did the presentation was very nice, as you can see by the team photo Dianne was all over him like a "hen on a June bug"! He gave all of us a kiss on each cheek. Joan liked it so much she hid her medal to get more kisses - oh my the Italian men better watch out Joan is coming to town.
Susan managed to keep the troupes amused. She started a great round of charades that continued while standing in line in the marshaling area. Many took advantage of the time lag to visit the Flying Monkey Craft Brewery and of course to make significant purchases.
The 2nd race of the day we were to race against Survivors Abreast but they decided to leave so that left 3 boats. Two of those boats had rather large fellows on board and they were very surprised a boat full of ladies gave them a good run. We didn't make the finals for a medal standing but we were in the Silver Consolation Finals placing us 3rd.
Oh what F-U-N we had!!
Both Maggie and I were unsure of the decision to go to Barrie when we were choosing festivals for 2014, only because of all the rules and deadlines for team roster with absolutely no changes, electronic waiver issues, etc. But being there was a different story, it was a great community event. Everyone was having a great time except for poor Andy Gill who was taking care of Ruby (the dog, not our teammate) during the 1st race. Ruby escaped and Andy got injured He was tended to by St. John's but ended up having to go to hospital for antibiotics and I think a tetanus shot. It was great to see some of the hubbies out to watch their honey's paddle. Janice brought her son along, he's a photographer and most definitely got some good shots that he will share with us.
We also recognized our final paddling virgin of the 2014 season Linda Wharton. This was her first race, she did a great job and got a medal to boot.
Well done ladies, what can I say I am soooooooooooooo proud of each and every one of you! You've come a long way since Outer Harbour in May. Thank you for a great run and a super weekend, we must do this again next year.
To Shirley our photographer and drummer, Joan, Charlene and Wendy it was amazing having you join us and help us out. That's the great thing about Rowbust you make the call and no matter what they step up to the plate.
Submitted by:
Anne Hussey
Crew 1 Captain