RACICE REPORT MARK MEATES- MANAGER OF THE JUNIOR TEAM’

Racice – Czech Republic Thursday 29^th  July

No prizes for guessing what the weather was like Friday morning, yep still and calm. It rained a little late yesterday so temperature was cool but pleasant. Still a bit of cloud cover so  remained cool for most of the day.

Today we had to move to a new dining area down by the boat park. So a 5 minute walk for everyone rather than 50 m one. We are still able to have our early light breakie for Friday and Saturday so we were the only ones there early. The food is pretty much the same each day but certainly edible and just the sort of food required.

The training programme called for  a 1000m and a 500m piece today, we decided to do the timed pieces first thing in the morning while we were the only ones about. Light breakfast at 6:30, on the water at 7:00, everyone at the start for a 1000m piece at 7:30. Followed by a 500m and a 250m piece. There are only 4 lanes coming down the lake (namely 4,5,6 &7, lane 3 is a no go zone and lanes 0,1 & 2 are for going up the course), so we had to split into two races, for each distance. 

Team meetings are still very important before getting on the water to make sure everyone is ready and on the right page.

As the crews got on the water the coaches set their watches and biked to the start. No pressure today, yeah tight!

Race one                 Lane 4                     Lane 5                     Lane 6                     Lane 7 

1000 m                    M4+                         M2x                         W4x                         W4+

Race two                                                 M8+                         M4x

The crews raced out of the start each time and it was good practice. Often in the past they have had handicaps and things to deal with, today it was just go for all crews in the race, with all crews together it was very busy out of the blocks, each crew surrounded by others all going hell for leather. A good opportunity to focus in your own boat and get the job done. Again the results were a mixed bag but all very positive and able to be improved.

Because we are not able to have our early breakie from Sunday onwards, each crew had a trip to the supermarket in Roudnice to get their own cereal etc. to eat in their rooms before we go for our early morning rows. Management are hoping this can be accomplished without too much mess. We will wait and see.

Meanwhile it is business as usual in the hotel between rows.

Saturday appeared, at first, to be quite overcast but upon closer inspection a low fog was the cause with a bright sun trying to break through. Water was great as usual, flat calm early in the morning. The lake is quite a way down and consequently does not appear to get rough at all, even in strongish winds. The trick is the wind that seems to swirl around the course giving both head and tail conditions on the same run.

The bikes we are using are great, relatively new and very well maintained. Once one breaks the bottom in, so to speak (I think we are all at the acceptable pain level now), they are comfortable to ride. However the pedals are not very good and have not stood the test of time very well which has meant some repairs with new pedals fitted. All  back in action now.

The team are here to row and while they do so and I have described it as a bit boring, they still get on well and seem to be enjoying the opportunity they have.

We had a couple of parents visit the Hotel today. It was good to see Dianne Rodgers and Sheryn, Caleb’s mum turn up. We expect a few more over the next few days.

The Koreans (Manager, Coach a men’s and women’s double = 6 people) turned up about 9:30 pm to join us in Hotel Skif which, along with a Czech coach who has been here for a few days, gives us a full house.

Sunday dawned and it just felt like it was going to be a scorcher right from the get go and so it turned out to be. The athletes had a light breakfast, cereal and yoghurt, in their rooms before going down for a row. There was some speculation that the lake was not open for rowing to 8:00, the manager’s manual certainly suggested that. Some coaches thought it would be nice to have a little lie in while others wanted to continue as usual. So it was a disjointed start to the day with each crew choosing it’s own timeframe.

No-one on the water before us today, the eight were out first, followed by the coxed four.

 

Sunday was accreditation day and as we like, we were first through the process. It was reasonably painless with everyone through in a little over 30 minutes. It is now compulsory to have your swing tag with you to get into the course proper and it was good to go through without any queue and a long wait as some of the teams after us had to put up with.

Monday brought another beautiful day, still and calm but quite overcast. Another day with some timed pieces, a 500m and a 250m. There are still a few teams to turn up, the British in particular but we expect them today. Things are a lot busier in the dining room than a few days ago.

The boats are going very well, all of them. The coaches are still working on things to try to get that little bit more from each crew. Obviously you want your all your crew to row the same way, but with quite a varied pot coming in to each boat it is not always easy I think the key is to try to find some common ground and do the best you can. At low rating U2 pace, generally around 20 strokes per minute, the crews look really good and together. As the rating comes up significantly and as the pressure mounts as we approach Thursday it is interesting to watch the various techniques revert to their original style. So no rest for the coaches, still plenty to keep them busy. That being said the rows are mostly only 8 kms now so they are over very quickly. As Gary said to his crew in the row just finished “I am being very picky here”. We are now looking for inches.

More and more crews have been turning up and are now getting on the water and frankly, generally anyway, looking very good. I guess it’s always like that when you turn up to a top sporting event, in all sports I would venture, the opposition always look good in the warm up. There is some good news and bad news about that. The bad news is that “if it is all about size then we are going to have some trouble”. The good news is “it’s not all about size”.

From the bank the crews, as I said earlier, are looking great which makes it difficult for the coaches to pick exactly how it is feeling, it nearly always looks like it should feel good. So it is the athlete’s feedback that is important.

The management team are focused on keeping things positive, it is important to take something positive out of every row. The most positive thing is the consistency that the crews are achieving.

There is some good news about eating in their rooms, the rowers are doing very well keeping things clean and tidy. I am very pleased with them. The downside is that they seem to get hungrier having food so close to hand so that we have had to have another trip to the supermarket to top up their supplies after only two days.

We did have a bit of a scare this morning as the crews warmed up for their timed pieces. The women’s four took one stroke too many heading to the start and collided with the starting pontoon. Fortunately they hit it in just the right place to avoid a major catastrophe to the boat and Bea in the bow. You need a bit of luck sometimes and we used up a bit today escaping with no damage to our rowers and very little to the boat. The positive to be taken was that something like that could happen on race day, the idea was to deal with it and still get out and race well. It seemed to work as their timed pieces were very good.

We are very fortunate with the relationship between Rowing NZ and the boat builder Filippi. The Filippi boats we have are excellent but the service we are getting from the Filippi guys here has been exceptional, fixing little bits here and there and now getting the four back in top shape.

I did have a bit of a scare the other day when I saw the women’s quad talking to a bunch of strange men. I thought that’s not on and headed over to check out who they were only to hear some NZ accents. It was the NZ men’s kayak crew who have been training here at Racice for a few weeks. They race the week after us I think, so we wish them all the best.

I have been to regatta control to ask about the family tickets that have been purchased. These are the 48 seats that supporters purchased for the four days. It looks as though NZ have a very good position in the top of the stand, down beside the Presidents area, all set out in what we hope will be a “black” block. I will get the tickets Thursday morning from the ticket office behind the main stand and give them to Simon so he can hand them out.

The traffic plan has got a bit more complicated which has thrown the women’s four right off track. 4’s & 8’s go up lane 0 and come down 6 & 7. 1’s and 2’s go up in lanes 1 & 2 and come down 4 & 5. Lane 5 is the girl’s favourite lane so they get told off often for coming down the wrong lane.

There are lots of countries on the water today, including the Americans, the Germans, the Italians, the French, the Aussies, the Russians and the Dutch, plus plenty of the smaller countries. The British and Romanians have just turned up at 5:00 pm this evening. The atmosphere is growing nicely. I am sure they are looking at us thinking how good we look just as we are doing to them.

There are quite a few wasps about, which is not a concern most of the time. They can be a bit frustrating when you are eating your dinner. Jenny just got stung after her row which is just another thing to deal with.

Today, Monday, is the last day before the official hand over to FISA tomorrow. Tuesday is also Opening Ceremony day, held about 4:30 pm. We have to supply two athletes to represent us. This is usually done on a seniority basis but we are not sure how tedious or arduous the job will be. The first concern is not to do anything that will affect our racing and on that basis I think Gary would rather leave his girls out of it. It is not rocket science and the ranking would be Eve & Jenny (World Silver), Hayden (World Bronze), Georgia (World 6^th), Ollie & Shaun Houston (World 7^th), Shaun Kirkham, Jason & Nathan (World 9^th). There is supposed to be a storm tonight so we will see what the weather is like. We will therefore decide tomorrow when we know a bit more. It will be up to the coaches and then rowers to decide if they want to take part or not. If it is not suitable for the rowers we will ask the coxswains to step in.  

So there we are.

We look forward to seeing those that are here over the next few days. I will try to keep everyone else up to date with these reports.

Regards Mark