By This weekend saw some team building with the wonderful Keith Goddard, our ever patient and helpful sports psych and some team rivalry while watching the boat race in Putney. We spent Saturday in Bath with Keith and put in some solid time working on how to get the best out of each other. This will be vital when we are out at sea when we will be each other’s main support for a successful ocean crossing.
On Sunday we headed to the river bank in Putney to watch the boat race action. With myself an ex Cambridge blues rower and Laura an ex Oxford Brookes student the competition was on.
The atmosphere in Putney was great and a huge number of people had shown up in plenty of time to see the coin toss to see which crew would get which station on the river.
When each crew member was announced as they got into the boat I have to admit I was mainly jealous. These crews have been training all year for the challenge of this one race, a feeling I remember well from my boat race and the reason why if I could relive any race I’ve ever done it would be that 6 minutes at Henley. We’re looking forward to getting into our lovely boat Doris in California and getting a similar feeling of nerves and excitement when we set off next year (although we’ll be on the water for a little more than 20 minutes!). Sadly the race was a little less exciting than we might have hoped for after the Cambridge 2 man was almost ejected from the boat after a blade crash in the first 5 minutes. However all credit to him for continuing the race and to Oxford (although I hate to admit it) for some classy rowing and the biggest winning margin since 1973. Next year!
In other news our little pink boat should be back on the water in the next couple of weeks so that we can start putting in the hours at the oars instead of on the rowing machine. We are also still looking to complete our team. If you think that you are woman enough to join us then click here! https://coxlesscrew.com/join-us/
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