Greetings!

Day 2 of the World Cup is complete! It was a very hard day of racing, with tough conditions to deal with, but I'm very satisfied with the way I raced and the way things went. My semi this morning was ok, I went out at a good pace for 500m, and then eased off a bit when I knew I was going to make the final. Usually I don't like to mess around like that, but it was a strong lefts head wind, and I was racing two strong lefts, so I figured I would save my best for the final. It almost turned out to be a big mistake, as I drew lane 9 in the final, which had been a terrible lane all morning because the wind was stronger on that side of the course. Luckily by the time the finals rolled around, it was more or less a straight head wind. It was straight, but more notably it was very STRONG. As you may have noticed if you checked results, doing a 4:30 doesn't usually place you to well at a World Cup, but today was different. I knew going in that it was going to be a long one, and a very big physical and mental challenge. I tried to prepare myself mentally, and I knew that I had to focus on myself and staying strong throughout the race. Any mental or physical lapse could put you back and out of the race completely. To be honest, the wind was making me pretty nervous for quite a while. I'm not sure why, as at National Team Trials earlier this year I felt great in the wind, and was confident in my abilities. It's harder when you are racing at this level I guess. A bit before going out to race, as I was trying to think about how I had to paddle and how my race plan might need to be modified to take into account the wind, I thought about a radio show we listen to on sattelite radio, called the Jason Ellis show. One of the many things he likes to go on about is how people need to "harden the %*$# up", excuse my language. So I looked at the wind, and told myself, ya, this is going to be hard, so I guess the only solution is to "harden the %*$# up". That put me in the right frame of mind for the race, and I went out feeling a lot more confident than I had been. I felt good in my warm up, and was excited by the challenge that the race was going to give me. After a very bad first stroke, I almost panicked, but then thought to myself, this is going to be a LONG race, I think I'll have time to recover, and I very quickly did. I had a good start and was up with the leaders for the first little bit. I was focusing on myself, trying to move the boat smoothly, not sit up too much in the wind, and keep up a pace that would keep me in touch but not kill me. It felt like an eternity getting to the 500, but I knew I was still in good shape if I had a strong finish. With 250 to go I really picked it up, focusing on the guy in front of me and doing everything I could to catch him. As you can see in the picture, I almost did, but not quite. I'm on the bottom of the picture, coming in 4th. I was happy with my result, although 4th can be a bit annoying, as the difference between 3rd and 4th in terms of recognition and praise is a big one. Nevertheless, I think I paddled a good race, and was happy with how I handled the wind. I also know that I can be faster, and that I can definitely beat those guys.
Canada had a good day at the regatta course, with our girls K4 grabbing another silver medal with a very impressive performance. Adam van Koeverden was a close 4th, and is looking like he's going to be ready to rock tomorrow. Gab and Aruss had a bit of a dissapointment in C2, but I am confident they will bounce back tomorrow. I've had many dissapointing 1000's in my life that have led to some great 500 results, that's for sure. We are also racing C4 200 tomorrow, with Mark Klevinas subbing in for Morty, which should be good practice for later this summer. It isn't a deep field, but the crews that are racing are all very fast so it should be a good test. I'm really excited to race 500 tomorrow as well, it should be a fun one.
Congratulations go out to Morty who threw it down at Ontario Team Trials, winning the 1000m over the strongest field we have seen at OTTs in years. It's good to see him winning races, especially on his home course, and bodes well for a succesful summer for C4C.
Ok, well that's all from me for now, it's time to get to bed. Another big day of racing tomorrow, then back home early monday morning. Thanks for reading and keep your paddle in the water.