coach's corner

here's the press release our coach sent to the whig standard:

A contingent of 11 athletes from the Kingston Rowing Club competed in the 2006 FISA World Rowing Masters Regatta held 06-10 Sep 2006, at Caspersen Rowing Centre on Mercer Lake near Princeton, New Jersey.

This particular regatta is for athletes 27 years of age and older, divided into age categories, with the oldest competitor at this particular regatta being a startling 87 years old.

Kingston had crews in the women's A coxed four, women's C coxed four, women's B eight with coxswain, women's B double and men's D single.

The women's A coxed four, with Kelly Smith, Kate Petersen, Shani Doucet, Shannon Smith and coxswain Karen Blachford placed 4th in a time of 3:55.986 [we missed third place by eight tenths of a second!] while the women's C coxed four, facing all American crews, comprised of Jane MacDonald, Diana Hopkins-Rosseel, Mary Louise Adams and Lisa Eyles and the watchful eye of coxswain Karen Blachford, placed a solid third, half a boat-length ahead of their nearest competitor, in a time of 4:06.152.

The women's B eight, pulled together with the crews from the coxed fours, was a lone Canadian boat in an all American race, The field of seven boats were neck and neck all the way down the 1000 meter course. It wasn't until the last 100 meters of the race that the pack broke up and placement was determined. The Kingston crew placed seventh, with only five seconds separating first and seventh place.

The women's B double with Lisa Eyles and Isolda Penney had an incredible start but a boat-stopping crab, followed by another crab, (crab is when the oar does not cleanly exit the water and is pulled parallel to the rowing shell by the force of the shell's forward motion) severely impacted their ability to place. They did recover and determined not to be left behind, succeeded in catching the pack and placing sixth out of seven boats.

Rick Trapp, rowing in the men's D single, had a strong race from start to finish, finishing a strong third in a time of 4:04.606.

and here are a few more pictures, this time from mla's camera:

traffic jam at the launching dock

kate warming up before our 8+ race

lisa and isolde, our super-fast, super-fit, and super-hot (yes, isolde!) double. they kindly stepped in to fill in two empty seats in our boats so that we could race ...

and in turn, we screamed ourselves silly at the 750m mark during their race to show our support (the girl in the ball cap in the middle isn't part of our crew. she found herself surrounded by yelling, crazy women near the finish and decided the best course of action was to join in the fun!)

rick, leslie, lisa and isolde

steve and leslie celebrating after the C4+ won bronze