First, congratulations on yesterday. It was NOT a very good day weather-wise, but I thought we performed well. Our novices didn’t row like novices out there, and that’s to your credit with so little water time. As you can tell, regatta days are very intense and VERY busy. My step counter from yesterday had 25,647 steps on it–the equivalent of 18.8 km…..no wonder my back is sore today! Victoria, Pete and Madison likely put more steps on, given that I was stuck at the trailer for an hour. A special shout out to our crews who made finals and won some hardware—JM4+, SW638+, JM4x (GOLD MEDAL!), and the SM664x.

A special shout out to this SM664x at the end of the day. In the harsh conditions on the course yesterday, Jack Henderson lost control of one of his sculls and the handle of it whacked him in the mouth 500 metres into the race. It was a hard hit that drew a fair bit of blood. Upset and probably quite sore, Jack continued rowing and finished the race. And in one of the more poignant moments this coach has ever seen, the crew hug at the end of it with Jack in the middle, was pretty darn awesome. There are elements to this sport that fall outside of just getting in a boat and racing. Team bonding, seeing what someone will go through to not let his/her teammates down during a race, pure heart and courage, and compassion. We saw it all yesterday with those guys. You all know I tell lots of stories from my rowing experiences throughout the years. That’s one more that will be told often.

On to Welland! A different regatta venue! Parents might want to tune up their bikes, because the venue provides the opportunity to follow races down the course from start to finish! Our entries will be posted (hopefully) later today. Our goal was to try to get everybody 3 or four events each over the course of the two days. Every race you do is approximately 7 km of rowing because from your launch site to the start line, is 3.5km. So if you have 2 heats and two finals in a day, that’s 28km.

I will also begin e-mailing out the Bennett Regatta (Buffalo) invoices. That can come directly to me (not to Westdale Rowing).