This afternoon two US crews raced their heats. Heats are tough at this regatta because most of the time you really have no idea what the other crews have. It's all well and good to watch a crew rowing in practice, but you never know who will be ready to really race.
In the boys' straight four I thought the Canadian crew looked like they really meant it. Right from the start they looked as though they were going all out every stroke they took. An attitude that, should our guys employ just a bit more of, might just enable them to do something special. Because the US took some really good strokes. Through the body of the race they were in the hunt and it seemed as though they could, at any moment, make a play for the leaders. With 250m remaining their instructions were to shut down if they were clearly not up front, which they did. No sense in wasting energy they'll need tomorrow. Hopefully the guys will have a bit more confidence now that they have done it once and stick their necks out in the rep. They have some real skills and they simply have to adjust to what is obviously a whole new level of play. What a great challenge!
The girls' quad looked like seasoned vets- I was impressed by how composed they were and how rhythmical. The German crew that took the lead is impressive. But our girls appear to have the resources to race this field successfully. They battled back and fourth with the Swiss and narrowly missed them at the finish- from the outside and more wind-exposed lane. I'm excited to see what happens with this crew tomorrow. They are taking good strokes and they may have a couple of surprises for their competition.
Tomorrow everyone is racing, so I'll do my best to keep up. Its going to be an exciting day!
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