We did it…
Monday, October 19th, 2015
We did it. My crew and I qualified our boat, the Women’s 8+, for the Rio Olympic Games. Now the hard work begins.
The World Championships, which took place in Aiguebelette France, were quite possibly the most competitive and ruthless championships I’ve ever taken part in. Normally we race with the opportunity and chance to showcase how fast we are. This regatta is a different story as it doubles up as the Olympic Qualifiers, meaning the threat of failure is huge.
One bad stroke, one miss timed push, one slip up and you could suddenly find yourself crossing the line in the wrong position.
I was so proud of the way my crew raced and really stepped up when it mattered, trusting in each other to deliver the best race possible in the final. We put in a strong performance and were up there in a medal position for a large portion of the race. We didn’t quite have enough gas to hold onto a medal in the end, coming 4th but securing an all important berth for the Games next year.
We took a well earned break after racing and now we’re most certainly slap bang back into the Olympic season. Blistered hands, fatigued bodies, and competition for seats begins all over again.
We are now facing a series of trials and tests, either in our single sculls, on the rowing machine or in crew boats, to find the fastest combination of people to race next summer.
My brand new boat is due to arrive soon and I’m looking forward to seeing how fast I can make it go. This will have a huge impact on my training and hopefully I can put out some good performances in it.
As we look ahead to the autumn and into winter I know there will be some long hard days ahead. It’s time now to get my head down, row some serious miles and be confident they will pay off when it comes to testing.
