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| My view from the office...first row on the 2000 Olympic Course! |
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| Mike Gennaro, aka Tiny Kangaroo. Team USA in Sydney Airport! |
Okay, maybe not that last bit, but we are really having a
great trip, and I couldn’t be more excited to race. After a 35-hour-long trip
to get here (DC -> Princeton -> Newark -> Los Angeles -> Sydney
-> Penrith), I was pretty toasted. But after a bit of acclimation and a
couple of great night’s sleeps, we’re more than recovered!
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| Warm-up jog with the crew! |
Penrith, where we’re staying, is home to the 2000 Sydney
Olympic rowing venue, as well as the Penrith Panthers rugby team. Hopefully we’ll
get to see a proper rugby game the last day we’re here, since we’re literally
across the street from the stadium!
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| Pretty average weather here. |
When we went for our warm-up run the first day at the
course, I had such a strange sense of déjà vu. I realized that three of the
races I’ve watched hundreds of times—the men’s pair of Andrieux and Rolland (and Sebastian Bea and Ted Murphy!), the men’s and women's single sculls, and the men's eight—they were all raced on this course! It’s really brought a lot of enjoyment to the rows down
the course to be thinking about this marker as being where one crew or another began
their amazing sprint, and even just remembering all the history that’s happened
on this racecourse.
The other notable thing so far about Australia has been the
bird life. Our coach (and hero), Laurel, raced here in at the 2000 Games, and
she told us as we were waiting at the airport that what she remembered most
were the “startlingly loud” birds. She wasn’t kidding…they have the craziest
calls and whether it’s a solo crow or the huge flock of parrots that sleep in
the tree next to our hotel, the volume is unbelievable. Thankfully, though, they do occasionally sleep, so we can, too!
I’ll be posting more photos and videos soon! Thanks for
supporting us and GO USA!
1 comment:
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