Racing Underway at the Sydney World Cup!

So today kicked off World Cup racing for Team USA here in Sydney, and we are so excited to finally get out there and go after a week of acclimating and training!

Sunrise at the regatta earlier this week.

This morning, we were the very first race of the World Cup in our 4x heat. I couldn't have asked for a more amazing boat to be a part of, with Elle Logan in stroke, Susan Francia sitting in front of me, and Megan Kalmoe rounding things out in the bow. As far as atmosphere, there's quite a bit of it at the moment, as there is a controlled burn brushfire somewhat nearby and we've had some spectacular sunrises and sunsets (as well as a little haze) at the course.

View of the brushfire from our hotel.

As with any regatta, we had a few wait-around moments--officials figuring out where the bow numbers were, a last-minute photo ID check--but got in a solid warm-up and headed up to the start excited to see what we could put together for our first piece together as a crew. Lots of good things and lots to work on, but we met our goal of crossing the line first and heading straight to the final on Sunday. Like many of our competitors here, all of us in the 4x are racing other events, so the idea of having one fewer race added to that pile made the one direct-qualifying spot (if possible) an even more definite goal!

Off the start in the 4x.  Photo: Detlev Seyb/MyRowingPhoto.com.

We headed straight for the dock, weighed our boat, set it in slings, and went into intense recovery mode. The World Cup schedule has been greatly compressed because of the Australian National Championship Regatta and the smaller number of competitors, so whereas racing would normally run from maybe 8am-1pm and then 4-6pm for repechages, all morning races were condensed into 8-10am. That meant that Megan and I had a luxuriously long break compared to Elle and Susan--our second race wasn't til 9:30, whereas the two singles were racing at 9:12 and 9:18! We had enough time to grab a snack, go to the bathroom, and stretch, and then it was time to head back out again.

Megan and I launched and did a quick tune-up warm-up, since we were still quite "warm" from our race. This was my first international race in a small boat, and I have really been looking forward to the experience and opportunity to learn that will come from this regatta. Having a double partner who has as much international experience in that boat as anyone on our team--and who is helping me learn a ton every practice--has made this an amazing experience so far. Our race results were not what we had hoped, but it also was a great first race because it gave us so many things to improve in the repechage tomorrow.

Susan off the start in the single.   Photo: Igor Meijer/FISA. 

This afternoon, we're all resting up. Elle and Susan had great races in the 1x, with Susan taking a strong third in her heat, and Elle putting together an incredible piece and winning her heat to go straight to Sunday's final! I am so impressed with both of these women--both of their first international races in the 1x, and Elle's FISA sculling debut, and they are doing incredible things. So pumped for USA sculling!

Caroline and Meghan in the pair.  Photo: Detlev Seyb/MyRowingPhoto.com.

In sweep racing, Caroline and Meghan won their heat in the pair to advance directly to the final Sunday, and the men's eight finished second in their race for lanes. We're all dialed in here at the hotel, watching the women's eight's heat, as well as the men's Australia National Championships final in the straight fours.

The live race tracker for all races can be found here: http://www.worldrowing.com/live-results?type=live, and Sunday's live streaming for finals can be watched here (check to see specifics for your country, which may include pre-registering): http://www.worldrowing.com/video.

Finally, I want to give a big shout-out to our only other fellow Americans here in Sydney, the junior women's eight from Saratoga, coached by the awesome Eric Catalano. These girls are blazing fast on the water and crushed their final today by more than a length of open water (and they have some pretty sweet gear!) Way to drop the hammer, ladies!!!

Teams USA earlier this week!

Thanks so much for supporting us back home, and Go USA!

Racing Underway in Lucerne!

  Yesterday was our first chance to get out and race outside of the squad, and across the board, Team USA raced aggressively and set a good tone for the regatta.

Erin and Elle off the start!

  Our pair, Elle Logan and Erin Cafaro, laid down some fast 500m splits en route to a solid win in their heat. We are all cheering them on for their semi this afternoon!

Stesha, Natalie, Adrienne "Hammer", and Kate racing to a record!

  Our two quads also did a great job yesterday. USA1, with Kate Bertko, Adrienne Martelli, Natalie Dell, and Stesha Carlé, pushed through the field to break the world record, but finishing a hair behind Germany. The rematch on Sunday promises to be more great racing! Our USA2 quad of Megan Kalmoe, Kara Kohler, Kady Glessner, and just-Wednesday-qualified-for-the-Olympics-in-the-1x Gevvie Stone had a tough draw and raced well. They will be racing for top 2 in the repechage this morning.

Me, Susan, Jamie, Amanda, Meghan, Taylor, Caroline, Caryn, and Mary!

  We had a really solid first race together in the afternoon and were excited to learn afterwards that we'd also broken the world record. More importantly, though, we qualified for the final Sunday, and are excited for the opportunity to race our brains out again!

Ken bending it in his heat!

  Our men's single, Ken Jurkowski, finished a strong second in his heat to advance to the quarterfinal today. And our lightweight women's double raced well in the bumpy conditions and will race the repechage for a spot in Sunday's final.
  In the meantime, we are enjoying Lucerne as always--the beautiful city, unbeatable breakfasts, and friendly people.
  Thanks for your support and GO USA!

Finals: Sunday in Lucerne

Final strokes of the rep!  Photo courtesy row2k.com

After a good solid race in our rep yesterday, we are feeling confident and excited coming into this afternoon's final. Reps aren't always a good way of gauging your speed, because you never know what other countries' race strategies are to qualify for the final, but we had a solid and aggressive piece that we are ready to build off of for today's final.

We are lining between Great Britain, the defending World Champs, and Australia, with Germany (World Cup leaders this year), New Zealand, and Ukraine filling out the rest of the starting blocks. Our race goes off the line at 1:29pm (7:29am Eastern/4:29am Pacific), and there will be live video streaming through the World Rowing website at http://www.worldrowing.com/video. You can also see the splits and results via live race tracker at http://www.worldrowing.com/live-results.

The weather has been interesting here--alternating lovely sunny skies with rain and occasional thunderstorms. There will be variable weather this afternoon, but whether 70, sunny and tailwind or 60, bumpy and pouring, we're excited to get to the line and drive down the race course with everything we've got.

Some USA crews have already raced this morning in the B finals, and we will have crews racing throughout the morning in the A finals, so be sure to tune in to the live streaming video starting at 10:15am to see the racing! Thanks for the support, and GO USA!

Lucerne 2011: Day One Done!

Off the line in our heat!    Photo courtesy row2k.com

We had our first race together today, and while we definitely have places to go, it was a solid starting point. We lined up against Germany (World Cup 1 and 2 winners), Australia (who I raced last weekend at Henley), China, and Russia. We ended up a second and a half off of Germany, and will be racing in the rep tomorrow with a solid field, including Ukraine (World Cup and Worlds medalists from the last few years). We’re racing at 3:12pm (9:12am Eastern, 6:12am Pacific) and you can see live results at http://www.worldrowing.com/live-results.

Kristin Hedstrom and Julie Nichols dominating the LW2x

USA overall did very well for Day 1, with some extremely strong performances to boot. The lightweight women’s double of Julie Nichols and Kristin Hedstrom won both their heat and quarterfinal races, making it look easy in the heat by nearly a length of open). The women’s pair of Taylor Ritzel and Caroline Lind also moved out to open water in winning their heat, and the women’s eight won their heat by a length after a fighting back through the field. Our men’s eight also had a great race today. Our guys went for it against defending World Champions Germany, were within a second of them the entire race, and nearly caught them in the sprint. The other heat of the men’s eight featured a 0.01 second win by the Netherlands over Worlds silver-medalists Great Britain—a big sprint that produced one bowball’s lead and avoided a trip to the reps for the Dutch.

M1x Ken Jurkowski

Another exciting performance of the day was from men’s single Ken Jurkowski, who took second in his heat before winning his quarterfinal (Mahe Drysdale took third) to advance to the A/B semi tomorrow.

The women’s double of Sarah Trowbridge and Kate Bertko finished a tight second in their rep this afternoon after finishing a tight second in their heat this morning, and advanced to the A/B semi tomorrow. Our men’s double of Will Miller and Glenn Ochal put on a good sprint to win their rep and also advanced to tomorrow’s A/B semi. Our other pair, Meghan Musnicki and Susan Francia, finished second in their heat to advance to the A/B semi, where they will face off against USA1.

Banks, Stitt, Monaghan, and Stafford in the M4-

There was also exciting racing by our men’s fours. Both took a trip through the reps after tough draws this morning, and both won their reps, including a win by Silas Stafford, Ryan Monaghan, Sam Stitt and David Banks over defending World Champions France. The two fours will face off tomorrow in the A/B semifinal. The second women’s lightweight double of Ursula Grobler and Abby Broughton also made it through to the semifinals after a trip through the reps, and will race alongside USA1 in the A/B semi tomorrow.

Our men’s pair, Justin Stangel and Tom Peczek, will race in the C final tomorrow, as will our lightweight men’s four and men’s quad. After an extremely close rep, women’s single Gevvie Stone will also be racing in the C final tomorrow.

That’s all from Lucerne—bedtime here! Check back tomorrow for more updates and photos. Go USA!

***All photos courtesy USRowing.***

Ready to Race: Lucerne World Cup 2011!

After a whirlwind of racing last weekend and traveling on Monday, we have gotten in a good few days of training and are all gearing up to race tomorrow. The last few days have been pretty uneventful, but this afternoon we had a freak rain/thunder/hailstorm at the course! We just managed to get our boat racked and tied down before the deluge started...our lightweight men's four, however, wasn't so lucky, and had to row through the craziness just to get in.

We haven't had much of a chance to explore, but I have managed to take a few photos around the city and at the course. I put together a little slideshow here:

I am racing tomorrow in the women's quadruple sculls at 12:30pm Lucerne time (that's 6:30am Eastern, 3:30am Pacific, in case you're still up!) My boatmates Natalie Dell, Megan Kalmoe, and Stesha Carle and I are all excited for our first race together and to get out there and go! You can follow along at http://www.worldrowing.com/live-results to see both the live race results and a list of race results from the day.

First glimpse of us in action--this afternoon's race against the thunderstorm!

Thanks for all of the support and cheering during last week's racing...it means a lot to me and all of the other rowers here. This is our first official race of the season, and we can't wait to get to the starting line tomorrow. Boom. Go USA!