Hello and greetings all,
Well it's been a while since my last blog, and as time flies... national team trials #2 are now upon us. Yesterday was the 1000m day and Gab and myself squeaked out a win in the C-2 over my brother Ben and Rich who raced a great race. It was a dogfight from start to finish and neither crew ever broke the other. These type of races are really exciting to be a part of, and they are also extremely tough. It felt good to overcome that type of challenge, and I really have to salute the performance of Ben and Rich. Fellow C4C member Mark was able to win another tough C-1 race.
I am looking forward to putting together a really solid effort in the C-2 500 again today, and am definitely preparing for another battle. I should mention that these set of trials are serving as the selection for the Junior World Championship team. I have to give a shout out to my clubmates Adam Tenwolde, Jason McCoombs and Patty Vaughan who all had stellar performances in day one.
Good luck to everyone on day 2.
Cheers and keep it real,
Andrew
Hello and greetings,
Just a quick hello before we head home for Canada. Gabriel and I are packing now, getting ready for an early wake-up and bus ride to the airport. The vibe is back, and we are feeling the positivity again. We have had some shaky performances during our time in Europe, so today when we blasted off of the line in the C-2 500m final, I could feel instantly the hunger in each of us. We pushed to the front hard, and worked to not relinquish the lead we developed. The Romanian crew was also very strong and moved on us halfway through the race, but we managed to finish strong and take the silver. It was a great way to let out a little frustration, and as we both put it, "we made par on the trip".
I am looking forward to getting home now, and putting in some quality training before the next set of national team trials. Big ups on the Europe tour go out to the men's K-4 who continue to elevate their game, Angus Mortimer who cracked the ever difficult Men's K-1 A final and nearly medaled, the "Baron" van Koeverden (who despite problematic ribs that he would not make a deal of), he performed incredibly, and I fully expect him to have an amazing season. Furthermore, Dober and Willows continue to have success over 200m in Szeged, the entire men's canoe team led by T Hall and Mark Oldershaw who threw down some great C-1 races, and lastly my pick for MVP discipline (and ladies and gentlemen I am a very proud canoer), but I cannot deny the ladies kayak team performed incredibly led by the ladies K-4. They seem very poised to do big things early, and I have to identify my fellow Nova Scotian Genny Orton who seems to have found a niche stroking the K-4. Anyway, I am perhaps overdoing it, but for everyone reading let me tell you I think the team is leaving Europe hungry to make things happen this season, and that's definitely the best mind-frame to be in.
Cheers and always keep it real,
Andrew
Hey and greetings all,
A quick post from the race course coming right at you. Things are well here, and I have just finished my heat in the C-2 1000m. Gabriel and I were re-united with "black beauty", our boat we raced in Beijing, and it did not disappoint. We were able to qualify direct to the final, finishing third place in our heat. The race was a fairly good one for us, though nothing was spectacular, and we know that we will need to show a lot more in the final. That said, we are really not complaining. In a strong headwind, we were out to the front of the pack in the first 250m, transitioned well and kept the stroke long, and were strong enough to hold off the field for third.
We will have lunch shortly and then head back to our hotel for a couple hours of relaxation before returning for our 500m heat. We are hoping to qualify direct for the final in this event as well. Rounding out our weekend will be a C-4 200m race that is a direct final. It should be a lot of fun to race, and will be a good way to close the weekend. One more thing I wanted to mention was the great staff with the team here in Szeged, especially the medical team of Alain, Bernie and Paul.
Cheers and keep it real,
Andrew
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Hello and greetings readers,
Pictured here are the happy faces of myself and the one and only Mini Fournel, and my main man Gab. There is lots to smile about folks... the team
morale is very high, and we're getting excited to begin racing tomorrow. After a 6 medal performance by the team in Poznan, Canada wants to amp it up again in Szeged.
This morning we made it to the course and were greeted by Olympic champion Attila Vajda. This guy is a gem... a fun person to be around and a tenacious racer. I am looking forward to
watching him pitted against two of our best, Mark Oldershaw and Tom Hall who both appear to be really moving their boats well. Always good to see friends of the Canadian team like Anders of Sweden pictured below who has no problem keeping it real whatsoever.
Gabriel and I were out for practice this morning in C-2. The day before a weekend of racing we often do a hard paced race distance piece to get the "lungs burning" and familiar with that racing feeling. The boat was moving for us this morning, and despite the traffic on the water, we were able to find a fairly clean 1000m to enjoy the burn. This afternoon I think I'll be taking the afternoon to rest and relax before the races begin tomorrow. My body has been feeling very healthy lately, and I am hoping to continue this trend.
What else, ten trick is still the popular card game of choice, and the heart rate monitored game was a beauty. Rhys Hill provided the best entertainment, when he led a high card, and then upon being asked "are you counting on that card?" his heart rate monitor began beeping, signaling a quick elevation in beats... maybe you had to be there...
Another bit of mindless entertainment that we discovered this morning was the two on two four square... which actually becomes two square... I'm just saying...
All the best and always keep it real.
Andrew
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Greetings to all,
While this is rather overdue, and I apologize for my apathetic posting. Regardless, I am back and have lots to say. We are currently in Duisburg training, and over the past 8 or so days we have really ramped it up, closing in on some really great race speed. It has been hard work, but overall I think Gabriel and I will travel tomorrow to Hungary feeling really good about the work that we have put in here.
Rewinding a touch, our first weekend of racing in Poznan was a mostly positive experience, but left a lot to be desired. Our 1000m race was what I left Poland feeling best about. Despite a 7th place finish, I thought that we came away from the race with some really good ideas. The first thing that I really liked about the race was that we were right in the medal hunt from the beginning and maintained our position throughout the majority of the race. I think not being too sharp and lacking a bit of race fitness perhaps impeded our finish, but altogether it was a strong effort for the start of the season. Throughout the entirety of the Poznan regatta Gabriel and I were able to find a lot of speed out of the blocks and this was setting us up to be in great position at the beginning of races.
So where to improve? The biggest thing to think about was the quality of the strokes we were taking. So this week I entered each practice with very distinct goals in mind, finding length and stretching in the front of each stroke, while also getting down to the water and maintaining more of a positive blade angle. The basic idea was to find more power in the front of the stroke, which results in a better overall glide, and perhaps a reduction in the stroke rate. I have really felt a difference, and have been really happy with the progress this week. For me personally, I find that I work best to have constantly updating goals in mind, and to always be striving towards something. It has been a really solid training atmosphere here in Duisburg as well. Often times our practices have all three Canadian C-2s that are here competing lining up against one another, and everyone has been really pushing which helps to drive up the level.
Off the water, there is certainly nothing to complain about. The food has been great, and the competition in the game of ten trick... just short of epic. Despite efforts from various team members, the four that make up C4C still maintain a stranglehold and tie for the number one ranking. Moving up rapidly, the one and only Chris Pellini has now jumped into 5th spot, however, he is being challenged by many. A special congratulations to Corey "hunted" Hamilton who recently cracked the prestigious top 10,000... what an honour! Tonight there will be a showdown to determine the rankings from 5 down. A special thanks in advance to our sport science man Leo Thonrley for all his help. We are planning to strap the final table of competitors with heart rate monitors that emit loud beeps when heart rates heighten and exceed a certain amount. Should be great fun!
Alright, other than that everything has been bang on. Thanks for all of the messages that have been sent in to the site, and of course, keep it real.
Sincerely,
Andrew
