It all started with accepting Sarah F. as ergo-buddy on the concept2 logbook homepage. Who would have known that this would end up in a team relay event at this year’s Australian Indoor Rowing Championships?
A couple of weeks ago she asked me, if I would like to join her team for a 2000 m-mixed team relay. Well, I though why not, it’s just 500 m each and I agreed to erg along with her and Nic. We also quickly found our fourth person and welcomed George to our team.
As they do not stop the timer after every 500 m, we agreed on practicing the changeovers and quickly figured out a good technique for that. Some of you might have seen us on a Sunday morning playing around with foot straps and practicing falling off an ergo efficiently.
The race Saturday came and I found myself catching a bus (I didn’t really know existed) from Chapel Street to Footscray, where Nic and Sarah picked me up and we made our way to Barwon Rowing Club in Geelong.
After a friendly welcome, it was already time for warming up. Nic was first, competing in a 2000 m race and he did a great job. Sarah was next, though as she was the only one in the 1000 m category, I agreed to row in parallel to motivate her with a bit of competition. After some school boy races, it was time for George to row his 500 m, where he smashed the other rower.
And then it was time for our team relay event. As we were the only team signed up, 4 others spontaneously formed a mixed team and even four of the school boys who rowed the 2000 m event earlier, joined the “fun”. With being flanked by the other teams on each side, it was time for me to get on the erg, set the drag factor and get ready for my 500 m. The screen informed us to stop warming up, to get ready and off we all went.
100 m: Yay! I can do this! This is easy!
200 m: Seriously just 200 m?
250 m: Half way through… This is going to hurt!
300 m: Just keep counting to 10!
400 m: I think my lungs are bursting!
450 m: Nearly there… 10 on the legs!
The change over at 500 m went smoothly and it was on Sarah to give everything for the next 500 m. I guess she had similar things in mind that I had. After she successful finished her piece, Nic took over and we slowly gained on the leading School boys and left the Mixed Masters Team far behind us. But we still had our secret weapon waiting. After Nic did a great job, it was on George to hunt down the School boys, which were still in front of us. He once again proved his strength and we just finished less than a second behind the boys with a fantastic time of 6:36.7.
We now need to wait for final results, which will be announced at the end of November. Then we will know our place in Australia, and if we even managed to get some bling J Fingers crossed!
By Stefanie Dudczig