Opening Ceremony and Spare Races

I apologize for the late start to the blog this time, but we're off and running now! I'll try and recap the day's racing as we go and relate some of the trials and triumphs of this year's team. The regatta opened yesterday at the official ceremony and on the water. Team USA fielded three crews in the spare races; the men's pair and women's pair and single. Virtually the entire team was chanting "USA, USA, USA" from the Grandstand. It was very uplifting to hear our team spirit coming into the last 500m and single (Danielle) and the boys (Alex and Emmett) put on a show for the crowd, sprinting through their nearest competition. The girls (Lydia and Katie) found themselves and behind a strong German crew early in the race, so they had to go for broke in the third 500m. It was great to watch them be brave enough to attack with absolutely everything with so much of the race remaining. In the evening we headed to the old town for the official opening ceremony. The venue was a spectacular ancient theater that is thousands of years old. After speeches from national and local dignitaries, the FISA representative declared the regatta open. There was singing, dancing, chanting and people twirling fire. It was a lot of fun. Despite the fact that there will be undoubtedly some epic battles on the water this week, the atmosphere at the ceremony was very open and jovial. Kids are kids all over the world and it was great to see them interacting in a positive way with people of all cultures and races.

Welcome to The 2012 Junior World Championships!

Junior World Championships 2012