Henley Women's Regatta

There are a few gaps on my trophy shelf, however one gap has been particularly bothering me.  I had never won Henley Women's Regatta.  I know this sounds silly when I have yet to win a Senior World Champs or even a Henley Royal but it was almost getting embarrasing that I couldn't say that I was a HWR champ.  At one point during the week I thought I was going to have to wait yet another year.  The river was extremeley high and there were some hideous winds that almost forced the regatta to cancel.  The regatta organisers did a fantastic job to keep it running despite the conditions and although there were no record times set, finals day on Sunday turned out to be a great day.

All the pink ladies winning at HWR

Myself and Erica entered the elite doubles comepetition as our last racing before Europeans.  We also boated our Leander Henley Royal quad for the first time!
We had straight forward wins in both semi finals despite some hairy moments off the start in both boats.

E4x final

The final of the quads we raced Vesper USA.  We had a few steering warnings off the start so they just managed to slip ahead of us by the end of the island.  Once we had found our rhythm (and station!) we managed to sit ahead of them to the finish.  It was great racing the Henley stretch, I was loving the home advantage.  Once we got to the 1k mark, I thought 'we know it's 500m to go, they don't....bye bye!' Very satisfying!!
In the doubles final we raced Rowing Ireland.  This was Erica and I's 4th race of the day and we both were feeling it in the legs.  It was a solid win and good to get some last bit of racing in the doubles before we start our Europeans training.

E2x Final

E4x winners

E2x winners

It was so much fun to be racing multiple races and in crew boats, it's something I really miss when we are racing internationally.  We are now in the quad leading up to Henley Royal (27th-1st) it's a really exciting project and I can't wait to have a lot of fun with my fellow pink ladies.

Roll on Henley!!

Holland Beker Regatta

Last weekend we took our double to the Holland Beker regatta in Amsterdam.  Myself and Erica were looking forward to racing some other doubles, finally! It was going to be a novel experience racing people in the same boat classification! We had some good comepetion entered with the Czech Olympic double racing both days and the Dutch double, who have just qualified for the Olympics, racing on the Sunday.

This was my first international regatta since 2009 (due to injury) and I couldn't have asked for a nicer welcome back! I love Amsterdam, partly because I've spent lots of time there to visit my boyfriend, but I also love being able to cycle everywhere and there's a very laid back vibe to the place which I think suits my personality.  Jane (our coach) was very keen for this to be an enjoyable experience so I got some time to cycle into the city and enjoy the weekend outside of racing, a very different experience to the tightly controlled environment of the GB rowing squad.

We were welcomed on our first day of training to a lovely flat calm lake.  Sadly this wasn't to last and our first day of racing was a tad breezy (luckily a tailwind).
It's always strange racing for the first time in a new combination.  You get to see how your crew mates behave before racing, some people are completly silent, others won't shut up and you get the occasional nervously angry person that you have to tip toe around.  Luckily I discovered Erica to be pretty similar to me...chilled, happy to chat, generally covering up any signs of nerves with a smile.  I think part of this was actual excitement to race, we both love racing and we have a VERY long season this year so are relishing any chance to go fast!

A very windy Bosbaan

Unfortunately the Saturday race lacked any real side by side racing.  We found ourselves in a bit of a void with CZE way out in front and the other club doubles (from Sweden, Germany and Japan) way behind us.  But it was good to brush away any first race jitters and good to find ourselves so far ahead of other club doubles.

Sunday turned out to be a beautiful sunny day and we got some great racing.  Our start didn't exactly go to plan, I thought that Erica had just had a bit of a stumble until I took a stroke that felt extremely heavy, I then realised she'd completely lost her blade! Some good skills from her and a couple of cool heads and we were back on track and managed to make our way back through the field.  After the first 500m the CZE 2x took a good lead and ourselves and NED emerged ahead of the remainder of the field.  We had a really good battle with them until the last 250m where they managed to slip out ahead of us.  We were happy to have such a solid first half and now need to go away and work on our sprint to the line.  It was altogther a great experience to get a close race with the Dutch and come away with a new PB time.

Erica and I post racing

Detailed results can be found here.  My parents took video from the truck following the race, the quality isn't great but you get the general idea! (we are closest to the camara). Video

Thanks again to 110% Play Harder, Headsweats, Faith in Nautre, Sigvaris Sports and Eat Natural for their product support so we could survive the weekend!