Tuesday 16 July 2013

Back in the United States...

Well, we couldn't quite beat Edinburgh. In our opening round of racing on Wednesday, July 3rd, the University of Edinburgh crossed the finish line first, 2.25 lengths ahead of our own boat in a time of 7:40.

With Edie, Trevor, and former captain Morgan Andersen following behind in the Umpire launch, Coachie in the grandstands, and the boys and Jen ready in the boat, the race began. It was an incredible race through the first half - both boats jockeying for the lead and never giving up. But after the Fawley marker and through the second half of the course, we couldn't keep up with Edinburgh's higher stroke rate and fell behind. Bowdoin made a serious push to take the lead approaching the 500m mark, but Edinburgh stayed strong all the way through and secured a spot in the quarterfinals.

It was just another example of how unique the Henley Royal Regatta is from any other Regatta in the world, in that anything can happen while in a single-elimination, knock-out format.

Although it was a tragic defeat and a disappointing end to racing, our early elimination allowed us to experience many other exciting aspects of the Regatta. We also found solace in the fact that no other American crews survived past Wednesday in our event.

We spent a lot of time in the swanky Stewards' Enclosure, an enclosed area at the finish line where the most bizarre fashion statements are considered acceptable. Many of these "trendy" people don't know anything about the sport of rowing . We spent most of the day milling around this area, witnessing some spectacular racing.

The nights were exciting, as the town was full of Olympians, all going to the same restaurants as us.
Saturday, by far the Regatta's most popular day, was an absolute mob scene. It is rumoured that 200.000 people come into the little town of Henley-on-Thames (usually population 10.000) during this day. Mark spent the morning on the Brassey's punt boat, moored to the booms right at the finish line, while the rest of us watched the racing from the grandstands in formal wear, and tried to avoid heatstroke.

And somehow it was suddenly Sunday, our last day in England. Sunday was the final day of racing, and what a day it was! Eight course records were set, including one in the Grand Challenge Cup by Great Britain's World Champion Eight, a time that was the fastest ever recorded on the Henley course. Great Britain came close to a full sweep of the regatta, with a few exceptions. The United States could only find gold in a final that featured Harvard 'A' vs. Harvard 'B'.

Now back in the good ol' U S of A, we all had an incredible experience that will surely be cherished for the rest of our lives. Although the racing didn't go as planned for the heaviest boat in Bowdoin's history, we still learned a great deal and had a fantastic time. We will certainly bring a lot of passion with us into the upcoming fall racing season!

Thank you everyone for your support while overseas!!! It meant a great deal to Bowdoin Rowing as a whole. It was truly an honour to represent Bowdoin at such an elite level of international competition.
 Let's go black!!



Looking classy outside the Queen's Buckingham Palace


An example of HRR "Fashion"


The Gloriana being rowed down the course



Mark chillin' on the punt
Our host family looking fresh 


Sir Matthew Pinsent







At the Row and River Museum during the American reception 


Red, White, and Blue for the 4th of July

















Sunday 30 June 2013

Wednesday's Race Announcement

Our Wednesday racing time has been announced.
10:20am Henley Royal Regatta time, or 5:20 Eastern Standard time, USA. Again, We will be racing against the University of Edinburgh.

Listen to the race live, here: http://www.regattaradio.co.uk/listen-live/

Live results will be posted here: http://www.hrr.co.uk/results/live/stream/

And don't forget to follow Bowdoin Rowing's twitter, either! https://twitter.com/bowdoinrowing

A Day in the Life

Well, our trip started ten days ago, but we definitely haven't spent the past 240 hours solely eating, sleeping and rowing, so what have we been doing?

We have been enjoying the sun! The weather here has been beautiful all week, and we have taken advantage of it. Our wonderful hosts, the Brassey family, have granted us use of their beautiful house and grounds. Quite often, we will enjoy our lunch and dinner outside in the yard. Mark, occasionally joined by Trevor, Cal, and/or Jen has been swimming in the pool daily. Coachie and Edie have been taking many walks enjoying the numerous footpaths and trails offered by Henley and the surrounding towns. Tucker and Mark have been enjoying some of the local tea shops and have spent some time reading while enjoying tea and pastries. Cal has been relaxing and reading up a storm in the house. And for a little friendly competition, we have all been challenging each other to countless rounds of foosball.


Our Wonderful Cook and company!





A little more about the house. We mostly seclude ourselves to the glassed-in conservatory, which has a few couches and our dinner table. The other room in the house that we frequent is our bedroom, which is essentially the attic, and has enough mattresses for the lot of us.

Monday was our first day on the River. The Thames River is perpetually beautiful. On Monday, we had the river mostly to ourselves, but it has been getting progressively more crowded with other boats as teams have arrived over the course of the week. The boat tent, has slowly filled with both boats and people. We have watched the preparations for the regatta appear up all week. More tents and stands have sprung from the ground every day, and there is barely any uncovered ground left. It is becoming more and more apparent that the regatta is almost here! Boats have begun arriving and claiming mooring spots alongside the course. Today, the queen's magnificently ornate boat, Gloriana, moored itself alongside the course, and we couldn't help but get a picture.






Coachie doing his thing from a perch








Her Majesty The Queen's boat, Gloriana
On Friday, Coachie took us on an excursion through woods and fields, over hills, and across the Thames. After a lunch at the Flower Pot, we returned to the race course to watch the qualifying races.


The Gladiator field (not really, but we like to pretend we were in the movie...)


 

 
Last night, we had a friendly game of whiffle ball at the town park, which was a fun way to spend our Saturday evening.





Saturday 29 June 2013

The Draw

The Draw for the Regatta was today! We were delighted to find out that we were chosen as one of the six Select Crews in the field of sixteen for the Prince Albert Challenge Cup. We will be racing the University of Edinburgh in the opening round of racing on Wednesday.

The Draw being held in the beautiful Henley Town Hall
To see the full official bracket, visit the HRR site here:
http://www.hrr.co.uk/fs/downloads/HRR_Draw_2013.pdf

Race times will be available Sunday night at hrr.co.uk.