Towards 2012

Beijing has been and gone. Many lessons have been learnt. London 2012 may seem a while away, but for us, the journey has already begun.

This year I have been selected in the Australian Women's Double Scull to compete at the World Rowing Championships in Poznan at the end of August. My partner, Pippa Savage, a fellow Toowoomba girl, made her international debut last year in the Olympic Single Scull. In the past Pippa and I have shared a great rivalry, competing for Australia's Single Scull title, however, not until now have we combined our talents; and it is proving to be a formidible duo.

As we close in on this year's world championships, we are excited about our potential. This weekend we will be racing at Sydney International Regatta Centre alongside our fellow Australian team mates, testing our speed over 2000m and working on consistent performances. At the regatta's conclusion, we will be entering into a four week intensive training camp in Penrith before flying to Verase, Italy for a pre-World's speed camp.

Important Dates:
10th-12th July - SIRC Rowing Australia 'World Cup' regatta
14th-31st July - Penrith Intensive Training Camp
1st-9th August - Australian Rowing Team Preparation Camp
9th August - Fly to Italy
10th-20th August - Pre-World's Speed Camp (Varese, Italy)
23rd-30th August - World Rowing Championships, Poland

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Finding Speed


It is that time of the season. The time to find some speed. For most of us in the crew, I think I can safely say all of us, we are the athletes that love to race. The racers. So it is this time of the season that makes all those early mornings, long days and months living out of suitcases worthwhile.
At the moment, we are in the team camp, which is very exciting as all the crews are here and it allows us to be able to use other crews to race against. The mens heavyweight double is our crew of choice. They are meant to be seven seconds slower than us over 2000m, therefore they are a great pace boat to work against. They also love a good battle.
Today we did a series of 15 stroke starts which allows us to practice making every start consistently the same. This is vital to racing. It enables us to line up on the Olympic start line and know what to expect from the first stroke even with the external distractions that the Olympics will throw at us.
With only five days until we fly out, everyone is getting very excited about the next few weeks, however, we are trying to keep it under control. I will keep you updated on our progress, enjoy!