So it's Monday afternoon here - late Sunday night for you guys. I'll type as long as my internet access holds out;
DAY 3 - Saturday, 200m: I'm so glad I'd packed my down vest at the last second because I've needed it a few times. It was cold and windy here again. We didn't have to catch the bus to the course until 11:30am so we took the hotel shuttle into Parramatta. Marisha was chatting with the driver and mentioned she was trying to find a copy of a particular Aussie song. Apparently on her last trip here in '82, every bar played Eagle Rock as their last song at closing time and she wanted us to hear it. The driver was a fresh-faced, young guy who politely told her that he wouldn't really know since he had been born in 1989. It was one of those moments, like being called Ma'am, and it brought Marisha up short. She started laughing, "Hey Lynne, this guy was born in 1989!". I hadn't been listening so I wasn't sure why this would be interesting to me until she explained. Poor kid was blushing. Anyway, he didn't hold it against us and agreed to come pick us up in an hour after we'd finished our email. Thanks everyone for the congrats and emails etc.
We did our thing in town, headed back to the hotel and caught the team bus to Penrith. We were all pretty pumped. The 200m is kind of "our race" - we haven't lost since 2002 . The heat went well - we came out a full second ahead of the field which was unusual for a 200m. We knew we had a little more to work with.
It was kind of weird at the tent. Being here as just the women's team means we're more connected with the rest of Team Canada (seniors and juniors) which is great. The downside is that athletes on the senior team were giving us their opinion of what we're doing wrong and how we should proceed. I guess in the past our coaches always acted as a buffer for us - we were the men's and women's premier team and kind of stuck to ourselves. Part of the problem this time is probably due to the fact that our coach also paddles for the coach of the senior team. Now that we're done I can say that I wasn't too impressed by this extra "coaching". I don't know whether or not that guy had any input on things here - our raceplan has been pretty consistent the past couple of years and the lineup of the core never changes much - but I don't like the implications. Our crew was built over the years by our previous coach. We are able to execute our raceplans so well because of that philosophy and that technique.
Back to the 200m final. This would probably be our tightest race and we knew it - 40 give or take strokes that had to be perfect. We blew the other crews off the line but China caught up and passed us in the first 100m. We heard Sheila call up the engine and went with it. I heard later that we were rating about 78-80 all the way down the course. Less than a buoy to go and we heard Sheila call up the engine AGAIN, Clem was yelling Jackie's classic, "I NEED YOU NOW!" When we crossed the line we had no idea who had won. the above mentioned group of seniors were saying that we'd won it by two strokes but having since reviewed video and photos it was more like the last 6 strokes. Whatever. Gold is gold. I give Sheila full credit for this win because, without that engine series, we might not have taken this race. the bus ride home was another celebration but for the veterans there was a slight tension. The implication from the rest of the Canadian team was that we barely won the 200m - that it wasn't difinitive enough to be worthy. It's total b.s. since that's the kind of race you want at a world championship but the atmosphere definitely set the stage for day 4 - the 500m.
DAY 3 - Saturday, 200m: I'm so glad I'd packed my down vest at the last second because I've needed it a few times. It was cold and windy here again. We didn't have to catch the bus to the course until 11:30am so we took the hotel shuttle into Parramatta. Marisha was chatting with the driver and mentioned she was trying to find a copy of a particular Aussie song. Apparently on her last trip here in '82, every bar played Eagle Rock as their last song at closing time and she wanted us to hear it. The driver was a fresh-faced, young guy who politely told her that he wouldn't really know since he had been born in 1989. It was one of those moments, like being called Ma'am, and it brought Marisha up short. She started laughing, "Hey Lynne, this guy was born in 1989!". I hadn't been listening so I wasn't sure why this would be interesting to me until she explained. Poor kid was blushing. Anyway, he didn't hold it against us and agreed to come pick us up in an hour after we'd finished our email. Thanks everyone for the congrats and emails etc.
We did our thing in town, headed back to the hotel and caught the team bus to Penrith. We were all pretty pumped. The 200m is kind of "our race" - we haven't lost since 2002 . The heat went well - we came out a full second ahead of the field which was unusual for a 200m. We knew we had a little more to work with.
It was kind of weird at the tent. Being here as just the women's team means we're more connected with the rest of Team Canada (seniors and juniors) which is great. The downside is that athletes on the senior team were giving us their opinion of what we're doing wrong and how we should proceed. I guess in the past our coaches always acted as a buffer for us - we were the men's and women's premier team and kind of stuck to ourselves. Part of the problem this time is probably due to the fact that our coach also paddles for the coach of the senior team. Now that we're done I can say that I wasn't too impressed by this extra "coaching". I don't know whether or not that guy had any input on things here - our raceplan has been pretty consistent the past couple of years and the lineup of the core never changes much - but I don't like the implications. Our crew was built over the years by our previous coach. We are able to execute our raceplans so well because of that philosophy and that technique.
Back to the 200m final. This would probably be our tightest race and we knew it - 40 give or take strokes that had to be perfect. We blew the other crews off the line but China caught up and passed us in the first 100m. We heard Sheila call up the engine and went with it. I heard later that we were rating about 78-80 all the way down the course. Less than a buoy to go and we heard Sheila call up the engine AGAIN, Clem was yelling Jackie's classic, "I NEED YOU NOW!" When we crossed the line we had no idea who had won. the above mentioned group of seniors were saying that we'd won it by two strokes but having since reviewed video and photos it was more like the last 6 strokes. Whatever. Gold is gold. I give Sheila full credit for this win because, without that engine series, we might not have taken this race. the bus ride home was another celebration but for the veterans there was a slight tension. The implication from the rest of the Canadian team was that we barely won the 200m - that it wasn't difinitive enough to be worthy. It's total b.s. since that's the kind of race you want at a world championship but the atmosphere definitely set the stage for day 4 - the 500m.
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