The Trinity 2V and 1V eights began racing in the Senior 8+ category today on a rainy morning - it was rather pleasant because the rain was falling straight down and not too much to either side.Our 'B' entry, a young, ambitious, and fantastic crew that led the way this entire year emotionally and in my mind, overachieved, raced against a very polished and mature crew from the Thames Rowing Club. Thames on the Berks station got off the line very aggressively and the 'B' crew went out incredibly hard and kept the margin to 2 lengths or about six seconds. Thames' time of 5:10 was the second fastest time of the day to that point and it's unfortunate that we met such a strong crew in the first round. But bravo to all of the members of our 2V, the Mighty Mites as they are known, for racing up a category and rowing their boat very effectively. It has been a pretty crazy ride from Hartford to Vermont to California and now to England and I hope they will all cherish the memory of their racing at Henley. A special thanks to seniors Nadia Zahran and Amanda Kulik who have poured their hearts and souls into Trinity rowing through its ups and downs. To next year's returnees, get ready...and be prepared.
The Trinity 'A' entry was then left to carry the Trinity flag into battle as we went up against the Cambridge '99 Rowing Club. After a rough patch of training this week with injuries, differences in focus, and some boat damage the time had finally come to put our preparations to the test. The 8+ went off very strongly and had about a length by just past the end of the island and continued on to win by 5 lengths in a time of 5:10...tied for the second fastest time of the day.
That set up an afternoon match up with the University College Dublin crew that our 2V had brushed on Tuesday. Slightly revamped, the UCD crew knocked out Bucknell University's 2V in the morning racing in a time of 5:08. It was a remarkable performance from both crews because Bucknell had defeated UCD a week ago but absolutely charged back from about a length down in the last 500 and just feel short. UCD was well pleased and I was very happy for their rowers and for their coach Tom Sullivan. In the afternoon racing, knowing that UCD's time had been faster than ours in the morning, we were prepared to deploy our full race plan down the course and the eight took a 2 length victory in a time of 5:15 (into a slight headwind). Times, especially at Henley, are misleading but we were about 6 seconds faster than the next best time.
Tomorrow afternoon just after 2 PM we'll race AASR Skoll from the Netherlands. They are a very tall and lean crew and their coach is incredibly vocal and an excellent cyclist. That matchup will be a very tough one that should be similar to the NCAAs in terms of intensity. The other semifinal has Durham University matching up with Thames Rowing Club. Thames should probably be favored in that race. Many thanks to all of you who are reading this blog...I hope in some small way that it gives you a sense of our experience over here...please keep your emails coming!
