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Third Secret Final Rowing |
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Before leaving for the race course, the four of us took a
little walk around the campus of Nottingham
University, where we were
staying. We made sure we were all on the
same page, that we knew the race plan cold and that we were ready to go. I had never seen such determined purpose in
any group or team I had ever been associated with.
We arrived at the course, had our pre race meeting with
Coach Ted and left for the starting line.
When the flag went down, we were off like a shot once again. Conditions were good, we had a slight tail
wind, and we led from the first stroke.
Personally, I felt like we were already halfway through the race before
we had even started, which on a scale of one to ten is not good. Having said that, my one stroke at a time
approach worked splendidly. Besides
that, my three team mates were hauling on the oars with unbridled ferocity,
poise, and technical precision.
With 1,000 meters gone, we led by 3/4 of a boat length. I was about done, but I thought, ‘well, if I
collapse now, when we're in the lead at the World Championships, it won't look
good. So, I better take one more
stroke...' and so on. With 600 to go in
the 2,000 meter course, the West Germans were beginning to close, as was their
wont. We responded and the two of us
began a tremendous battle through the final 60 strokes or so. The East Germans, Canadians, and Czechs all
made a run at us in the next 200 meters, but, with the finish line approaching,
we pushed it up another gear and it was between us and the Westies.
They were closing every single stroke. With 20 strokes to go, we were no more than a
few feet ahead. At that point, I had to
call the rate of striking up again. We
had already climbed from our base rate of 37, through 41 with the final call to
push us to over 44. I did not want to
make that call. My whole body was
suffused with pain and it was all I could do to push my arms away from my body,
much less connect and drive the boat forward.
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