The Races

I have not been able to find the time to update the blog because we have been busy with sleeping and racing, but a lot has happened the past two days, and here's how the first days of July have unfolded.

We began July 1st, the first day of racing, with an early morning practice to get some physical activity in. Our race against Winchester was scheduled for 5:40, so we had a lot of time to fill, and we wanted to make sure we weren't just sitting around letting our muscles get tight. The morning row went well, and we returned for our usual breakfast at around 9. From 9 until 3, we all spent the day doing various things to keep us cool and rested. It has been unseasonably hot (90 degrees Fahrenheit) in England this past week, so a few of us went for a light swim in the pool. Others watched movies, and napped, and we all had sandwiches for lunch around 1. At 3, we left for the racecourse prepared to represent Gonzaga for the first time on the international stage.

The town of Henley was like nothing we had ever seen before. In the streets, almost everyone was in formal clothing, and they were all either going to or coming from the regatta. At the regatta, crowds filled the grounds. In the parking lot, there were hundreds of tailgaters, but instead, these tailgaters had picnic tables and were drinking wine and eating salmon. Inside the boat tent, people were everywhere warming up and cooling down. To keep cool, we all stepped under the Henley showers multiple times in our racing uni suits. By 4:30, we were hydrated and as cool as we were going to get. We warmed up as we always have with a brief run and some stretching, and we launched from the dock at 5 leaving behind a large group of Gonzaga supporters.

As we rowed up to the starting line, motorboats and rowboats lined the racecourse, and Johan had to maneuver us around all the boats in addition to taking our practice tens and starts. Along the banks of the Thames were people from the start line to the finish line. We approached the starting area at 5:35, and waited for our race at 5:40. The Henley Royal Regatta is very well run, and every race goes off on time as scheduled. As we waited at the starting line, we were all very nervous, as I'm sure Coach Mandel and Coach Snyder can attest to as they were fortunate enough to be able to follow our race in the umpires launch, which is a wooden boat that is about 25 feet long. Fortunately, as soon as the umpire's flag dropped, we were ready to race and we began to take Winchester seat by seat. By the time we settled into our base rating, we had about 6 or 7 seats on Winchester, and throughout the whole race we continued to move on them seat by seat. By the barrier, our stroke rating was around 32 strokes per minute as opposed to our usual 35/36 SPM, and we held that rating until the end. Our time was 6 minutes 50 seconds, and we beat Winchester by 2 1/2 lengths in Gonzaga Crew's first international victory.

Excited, the crew hit the showers, spoke with family and friends, and returned to the manor for another relaxing evening. We also found out that we were going to race Brunswick School the following day at 3:10.

In the morning, we went for another practice row down the racecourse before races started to work on a few things. Unfortunately, Richard (6 seat) had been feeling sick and slept in to recover for the afternoon race. Once again, the morning was spent at the manor until 1. Richard recovered in the meantime, and the crew prepared for some stiff competition against Brunswick. We knew that Brunswick had gained significant speed since our last meeting at Stotesbury where we came out victorious. They proved themselves to be a very aggressive crew at the Reading Regatta, and we left for the race course preparing for a great race.

Today was also very hot, and the crew followed a similar routine of taking cold showers and drinking a lot of water before the race. The boat tent was less hectic today since half of the field had been eliminated in the previous day's racing, but the crowds came out in larger masses today. Similar to our first race, we had a warm up row to the starting line, and approached the starting platform 5 minutes prior to our race feeling jittery.

As the flag went down, our crew was losing off of the start. According to Johan, Brunswick had about 4 seats on us almost immediately. Soon after, the Brunswick boat began to encroach on our side of the racecourse and the umpire told both crews to separate. After some brief adjustments, both coxswains had their respective boats pointed straight down the course in a heated battle. Brunswick stroked at 40 strokes per minute, and we stroked at 36/37 strokes per minute. We expected Brunswick to go for the lead from the start, so we patiently powered our boat through at our own pace. By Fawley point (roughly half way), Brunswick had a length over our boat, but since they were racing at such a high rating, they began to tire, and our boat continued to surge slowly but surely at a 36. With 500 meters to go, Brunswick's lead was only 1/2 of a boat length and Gonzaga was feeling a surge in momentum. Unfortunately, Brunswick could feel the finish line approaching fast, and they put in a sprint with about 400 meters to go. At this point, we gave it our all trying to claw out anything we could as we sprinted toward the finish line 1 and 1/4 lengths behind Brunswick. Brunswick finished with a time of 6:42, and as we can estimate our time to be roughly 6:45, which is 5 seconds faster than our time yesterday.

Disappointed and emotional, we docked and put our boat away as we pondered over the race. We made an effort to keep our heads high, and we are still grateful for having such a wonderful season.

The crew derigged the boat, showered, and spent the rest of the afternoon in the Steward's Enclosure, which is an enclosed area for watching the races; however, most of the people there are not paying attention to the races, as it is more of a place for socializing. Our moods began to brighten up as the day went on, and we even got a tour of the historic Leadner Boat Club because Brian Flattery, a Gonzaga Alumnus, is a member there and scheduled for us to have a visit. Afterwards we returned for dinner and made plans for tomorrow.

Thanks so much to all for your support. We are proud to have taken Gonzaga Crew to the Henley Royal Regatta, and we hope that future boats can build upon our success. It has truly been an amazing run, and none of us could have ever expected that we would make it this far. It has been an honor.

Also, I will continue to update this blog on a daily basis despite that fact that we are done rowing, so you can still follow the crew on its journey.