The Telegraph

The video I posted yesterday morning also made it onto The Telegraph website front page.  Here is a link to the article they wrote - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympics/rowing/8720323/GB-rowing-team-practice-moves-at-airport.html

Henley Royal Regatta - Sun

                        View from finish in the Final

Leading the Australians on Saturday

View close to the finish against the Germans.     



On Sunday I raced the German National Eight in the final of the Grand at Henley.  The race followed a similar pattern to our previous encounter with ze Germans - they lead out, we come back a bit, they hold on and beat us.  They won by a length and set a new course record.  I won't give a comprehensive breakdown of our race, trade secrets and all, but I can say it was a disappointing result and a missed opportunity.

There was a little controversy over the steering line the German cox took, mainly that he cut right across (very early) and washed us down so that our strokeside puddles were running straight into the puddles from their bowside.  For those not into their rowing lingo - we were forced to take strokes in their turbulance for most of the way down the course.  In coastal rowing that's part of the game and at Henley it's not allowed but it's tolerated to an extent (it is strictly forbidden everywhere else we race).  It was unfortunate as it meant we struggled to get back level, but was not the reason we lost.  Henley is a unique and special event and that is just one of it's quirks.  It's something we were in part expecting as a possibility and not a suprising move from a German cox who has called the GB Rowing Team "dirty dogs" on German National TV.

Our focus continues to be on ourselves, our boat and our progression in speed.  On Wednesday we will fly out for the last of the last race in the World Cup series [Lucerne, Switzerland], where we will meet 11 eights from around the World.  Germany and others will be there, we'll be ready to go again.

Report from the Daily Telegraph.

Hard week plus O2 and London Youth Games

 

I've had a pretty tiring week post Munich World Cup.  We got straight back into training but certainly had to tough it out towards the end of the week.  As I've mentioned before, your body can react in funny ways after hard races, particularly when racing over a few days.  I was in a bit of a bad way, but kept recovering enough to make it to training the next day.  There is a strong sense of satisfaction and accomplishment when you're tired and ill but still able to plough on.  The light on the horizon was the day off on Sunday, without that I'm sure I would have crumbled quicker than a digestive.  Along with training I had two events to attend this week.

On Thursday evening I went straight from training to an O2 employee event at Battersea Park.  I've recently taken up an offer from O2 for work experience in their legal team, admin stuff is still going through but I hope to start in the next week or two (more about all this in a later post).  The event was for management from all branches of the O2 family, looking towards the next 12 months and how O2 wants to develop in that time.  I have found that anyone to do with O2 is unbelievably positive about the company, and from what I can see there is good reason - lots of positive stuff, particularly for customers, will be rolling out over the next few months.  I met and spoke to quite a few people, I also joined in the 1 minute ergo challenge that was going on - hopefully I still had the top score at the end of the night (if I didn't then I will look like a right mug).  It was particularly good to chat to Ronan Dunne, the CEO at O2, a nice guy with a great knowledge of sport.

On Saturday I had my second event of the week, which was probably my second event of the year come to think about it.  After training, I shot across London to the Royal Docks by London City Airport.  The Thames Water London Youth Games Regatta (catchy title) is a competition held each year between all the London boroughs as part of the wider Balfour Beatty London Youth Games; points are won for the borough in each event, with an overall borough champion named at the end of the games.  I was there with Andy Triggs-Hodge, who is sponsored by Thames Water.  While there I met up with Amanda from Atos Origin (who provide a bursary to aid my training to 2012), it was great to chat to her again and will hopefully see her at Henley Regatta this year.  Andy and I gave out the medals to the winning crews.  Each person celebrates a victory in their own way, some were very smiley and excited to receive the medal; others were more stoic.  Every village has it's idiot and every Olympic champion has a super fan.  Well Andrew Triggs-Hodge met her in East London on Sat 4th June 2011.  I don't know her name, but she won the girl's single scull event.  As her win was announced she jumped from the floor (from a cross-legged position, and didn't use her hands!), ran [arms flapping] to the steps of the stage.  As she climbed up the steps she squealed to Andy - "Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my God, I follow you on Twitter" (with various excitable noises).  Andy laughs nervously and the girl nearly collapses with joy.  Nearly forgetting her medal, she leaves quicker than she got up there.  All in all a good day and a great story for the lads down at Caversham.

Surprisingly, I know a lot of people missed out on Olympic rowing tickets.  You can register on http://www.eventeam2012.fr/ before midnight in France (11pm BST)  TONIGHT and you will have an exclusive 48 hours from June 13 to buy tickets on a first-come, first-served basis.  After the two-day window, the remaining Olympic tickets will be on general sale.  This is a genuine website and there is a further article on this on the Telegraph website today.

Press Coverage from today

Daily Telegraph ran a spread in the sports section today.  Here are two articles published online -

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/rowing/8506148/Great-Britains-mens-eight-may-be-made-up-of-believers-boffins-and-sceptics-but-they-are-pulling-in-same-direction.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/rowing/8506626/Great-Britain-mens-rowing-team-man-by-man-guide.html