Fast and furious 200m – the day everyone looks forward to! The action is up close, the pain is only brief and the atmosphere is always electric.
PD’s had a great day of racing. The mixed crew came a very close (dragon’s nostril) second in the heat and went straight through to the semi-final. There were a couple of things to work on from the first race, which gave us good focus for the semi. The semi was a blast! Great rating, lots of power, we came second to a very fast Canadian crew and posted the second fastest time overall. Coming into the final I could feel the nerves in the pit of my stomach. No one wanted to say it, but we were all wondering if we could repeat yesterday’s outcome, or even better it. In the end, we had a very solid race – a good start, great transition, and plenty of juice in the lift – and came in 4th. Better than our results in Penang, and perhaps our best result in an international 200m race (will have to check with the record books).
There wasn’t much time for reflection on our result as it was then time for the boys to back up in the 200m. With some real grunt in the boat the Men are through to tomorrow morning’s semi final. A big day of racing tomorrow! The chicks are out in the 10s boat for their first series of racing, the Men get a look at the 200m, and the Mixed crew will tough out the 500m.
Off the track, the girls spent the afternoon doing what they do best – shopping! In a couple of hours we had chosen fabric, designed and negotiated the creation of 18 party tops for Sunday night – accompanied by much hand waving, measuring tapes and pieces of string. In the evening many of the team explored the alternative world of the Venetian for dinner.
Tomorrow’s racing – Women’s Small Boat 200m. Men’s 200m semi and final, Mixed 500m
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