Bristol Indoor Rowing Championship

Firstly a massive thanks to the City of Bristol Rowing Club for putting this on - and all the people at the sports hall who helped out - without these guys and gals there would be know racing. Also a big "hi" to all those who I talked to yesterday - the day flew by as we all chatted away - and for me it had the potential to be long as my first race was at 10:00 and last at 16:10.

Also a beyond massive thanks to Q (James) without whom there would be no Beowulf - without whom there would be no "Q-Power" yesterday was the first time the team got together in such a large group to race (Ollie and Carolyn having raced together in the Worlds - and Eddie, Ollie, James, Jason and myself had got together for row24) and I think it would be fair to say it was a success (you can read about the teams haul here [url] http://q-power.co/News__2013_.html [/url] ) well done to all the team and all of those who raced yesterday.

OK - so what actually happened from my point of view - well this day last week I wasn't even sure I would be racing - back/hip issues having flared up on top of a bad ankle and training not exactly going to plan meant it was going to be an interesting run in :lol: luckily I settled some nerves on the Monday with a PB in the 30r20 and then just cracked on with training. Friday morning it was also a close call as to whether or not I'd be racing as due to local floods and torrential rain I was struggling to make it to the airport on time - in the end I had to drop the dogs at my in-laws and the Mrs had to get them to the kennels (if you don't know I have 4 large dogs - they weigh in at a combined weight of 130kg - and so need to be kennelled when I am away) but I did make it and met up with Dave Sheehan (recent Q-Power recruit) and we flew to Bristol and then got to the hotel and the team began to assemble along with Mat from sub7. 

We had a short training session at the hotel - 4 model E's in the large gym and two model C's (one of which didn't survive a bit of relay training - see previous blog entry) then it was a team meal and bed.

Race Day

So race day – up for a quick paddle about 7:30 – myself and Dave managed to blag our way into the gym 15 minutes before opening – must have been the gift of the gab – well I have kissed the Blarney stone ;o) we did a 3k paddle and finished before the rest of the team managed to get in :lol: then breakfast and got ready to go to the venue. Once there I registered (I think I confused them having entered 2 2k’s) and had to jump on the warm up machines – I lucked out as the one I got was one of only three where the monitor was working. Through the race 5k warm up and the sweat was pouring – seemed very warm at the warm up machines ….. Then onto the race machines – which luckily where in a lot cooler area of the hall. I was lined up in the middle – there where in fact three heats of the open and we were unsure if they were seeded or not – I was in the middle heat – so settled and waited for the start – the plan was to hit the first 500m at 1:30/31 and see what the old body had – I got to about 200m to 300m in and I knew it was going to be a difficult day in the office – the legs where complaining far too early and I took the decision to back off to the safe zone of 1:33’s early. At this point a cox decided to input some advice – I most politely turned to them and mentioned that I would be OK for now thanks (OK – they were not exactly the words I used :lol: ) I think at this point I may have been 6th or 7th in the race - the 1:33’s though turned to 1:34’s and just before the 1k came up and Jon Goodall (who did a fantastic job on the commentary I must add) started walking towards us and said something along the lines that we had to stop – I figured out that the software had gone down – nothing on the race part of the screen – but the monitors where still recording and as soon as Jon spotted that he said carryon and we did. Through the 1k now and I was aware that before the monitors had gone I was leading – so I carried on with the 1:34’s (maybe 1:35’s)  with the intention of picking it up at 500m to go – which I did – I think I pulled it down to a 1:30 split for the last 500m which was good enough for a 6:11.4 – miles off what I wanted – miles of my PB and 2 seconds off my time from July. But it turned out good enough to win the Open – which I suppose wasn’t too bad for a nearly 40 year old ex-gym rower. Not 100% sure why it wasn’t there – I wasn’t deliberately holding back for the second 2k or the triple challenge – it just was not there on the day – lungs and heart where fine – legs where the issue.

 

 

As soon as I finished I knew I would be racing the second 2k (30-39H) not to win it – but just because I wanted to see what it felt like to race 2k’s in one day – had no idea if I could get through it so the idea was to sit on 1:36’s and see what was left – that turned out to be 1:36/1:37 until 500m to go – it was quite a surreal race for me – no pressure – no expectations – and I just found myself listening to the commentary on Ollie’s race – was aware of him picking it up at 500m to go and thought I might help him race home if I went as well – which I was going to do anyway – but it gave me the impetuous to drive it home thinking it might just help push him through that 6:10 barrier – I have no idea if it did help or if he was completely unaware – but it was fun and I got 1:30.5 for the final 500m at r34 (having rated 30 for the first 1500m at 1:37.1) and grabbed the “bronze” (although there was only a “medal” for first). Ollie bagged himself a PB and the Gold with the fastest time of the day at 6:09.4 which I was delighted for him as he’d worked so hard for it. Dave managed Silver and so Q-Power had a clean sweep.

So then there was the relay which we brought in Sean Dickinson for (rather a good call I thought :o) ) we had a quick practise in which I made it quite clear that if anyone missed the seat they were to get off straight away and let on another rower ….. err we’ll wait for the video on that - :lol: Q-Power won the Gold with a time of 5:17.6 – about 18 seconds slower than we intended due to change overs we think :lol:

 

Next for me was the 1k as part of the triple challenge – Ollie hadn’t entered this and my attention was focused on Sean who came second in the Open – but then I realised that Dave was actually in second place as he’d pulled a 6:16.9 in the 30-39. So that meant again I had to box clever – so 1:35 for the first 500m - started well and then another "cox" decided to interject and again I kindly spoke to them and asked them to stop .... :lol: and then I thumped it for the second 500m to grab a 3:02.0 1K.

 

Finally came the 500m – this was going to be interesting to see what was left in the legs – seems I had enough as I pulled 1:21.9 and secured the triple challenge Gold.

In summary – 5 races (2by2k – 650m of the 2k relay – 1k – 500m) with 4 “medals” on offer and I won three “golds” and a “bronze” not a day day – knowledge learnt and a great day meeting great people and a wonderful Q-Power team event with beers and laughter to follow until 3am – jee’s I’m tired – I bet you are if you just read all that !! :lol: