Guildford to Garrett
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First race of the season is over.
We picked up 50 points and are currently sitting in third place, behind Swans and UWABC. It was a comparatively huge fleet of boats from all clubs out on the Bayswater stretch of river - certainly the biggest number of competitors and boats in recent years both for WARC and, it seemed, everyone else.
This is how WARC fared:
However, the raw times don't really do the day justice...
Things started well. Until we discovered 10 bolts were missing from the Maali and backstays were suddenly considered an optional extra.
#rowingproblems first race of season. 10 bolts missing. #whoneedsbackstays #rowing pic.twitter.com/psLcwu35g9
— WA Rowing Club (@WARowingClub) April 12, 2014
For the record, WHEN RIGGING, DON'T TAKE THE FIRST BOLTS YOU FIND. Or we will set Sam and his cranky face on you. And no one needs that.
Then the WB8+ studiously went about setting their oar lengths.
Buuuuut they were the wrong oars. And they all had to be reset for the MD8+.
For the MB8+, it was a big day: Gettin' to row the Big Al, weight down with three GoPros, god knows how many GPS devices and a bunch of stroke coaches.
The Big Al had a little training outing this week, but was most recently seen at the World Cup being rowed by the WA Youth Eight (who, we might add, it would appear completely failed to wash said boat at any point during the SIRR.) At least the name is garnering the sort of attention it should after being used in connection with rowing for nigh on 80 years.
Once on the start line, things got a little kooky:
Rowan photobombed his own pic and tweeted it. Someone (maybe me) had the bowcam out. This was possibly the most recorded race in WARC history.
We suspect Deano was seriously considering following the race with his drone, although how he would achieve that whilst rowing is anyone's guess.
Here is Rowan's STRAVA from the race:
Perhaps more hilariously, this is Jonesy' heartrate and speed from the race. Now the lads rowed up, and turned around. That bit is obvious... but then 41 minutes into the race, something weird happens. I'm reliably informed our man Jimmy copped a Boatrace 2014 style crab which may even have resulted in damaged carbon. No one is claiming responsibility, but there's no hiding when you're rowing with a boat full of nerds.
Since the girls are nowhere near as nerdy, I didn't want to leave them out so put together this little table, showing this race was one of the best performances out of WARC since we were gifted the Maali in 2006:
I don't have much in the way of pix and stories to tell from the two D eights - they've kept their experience very close to the chest. That said, supercox Nel did mention the last 200m of the MD8+ was EPIC and Mick Duxbury lead a one-man motivational band over the last stretch of the 7km race. Nice.
So, that's it from the G2G. Next race is the Mettam and entries are due this Sunday night.