June 30, 2013
Sunday, June 30th, 2013By: Hugh McKeegan – (1st year, Trinity College ’10), Assistant Men’s Coach
Not much to report today – our crews had the day off, and most of the guys went into London, so my schedule was pretty light. Between walking into town to get lunch and going out for dinner with the coaches from Trinity College, Hartford (my alma mater), I barely managed to squeeze in a three hour nap.
The last couple of days, though, have been eventful. With the city of Reading a short(ish) row upstream, and the competition there taking place on Saturday, we had both crews take a nice swing row up the Thames to the regatta staging site. Keegan and Peter, who competed in the 2- and the 2x, rowed up Friday afternoon, while the 8+, whose lone race wasn’t scheduled until early in the evening, went up to Reading just before lunch on Saturday.
Normally, for us, rowing from one staging sight to another (i.e. the boathouse to the proving grounds) isn’t too tricky – you basically point the boat in the right direction and go until you get to where you need to be. On the Thames, however, the crews had to navigate a series of locks as they made their way upstream. I was to travel with them on bike, following the tow path, just in case. The 2- and I would then return to Henley by train on Friday, and, on Saturday, we’d all head back down stream via lock and tow path.
To make a long story short, I paid attention to a “no bicycles†sign on Friday (which a friendly man in a kayak later told me only foreigners and tourists heed), wound up on the “main†road between Reading and Henley (which was terrifying to bike, at about 1.5 lanes wide and with every car ripping by at 60+ kph), overshot the regatta site by about two miles, finally managed to catch up with the 2x, then got on the wrong train (Wokingham is just lovely this time of year), and still made it back in time for Coach B’s ginormous pasta dinner.
Saturday went a little smoother (which I guess isn’t saying much). The trip to Reading with the 8+ was a piece of cake (I enjoyed saying hello to all of the other cyclists on the “no bicycles allowed†footpath), and the regatta itself was a fun event. Our guys posted a nice margin on the crew from Trinity (still not entirely sure how happy I am about that…) and collected some pretty fancy tankards for winning.
Taco volunteered to ride the bike and I ran the roughly eight miles back to Henley. With the lock operators gone for the evening (they punch out at six o’clock; we didn’t hit the first lock until after seven), Taco and I (with a little help from the locals and only a half hour of frustrated button mashing at the first lock) managed to get the 8+ through all three using the self-service controls. Keegan and Peter, who departed ahead of the rest of the group, wisely chose to portage their shell and beat the 8+ back to Henley by about an hour.
With fish and chips for dinner, everyone went out for dessert before calling it a night. The guys will have plenty of interesting things to report from the day in London, I’m sure. That being said, while winning at Reading and having Sunday off (and all of the attendant shenanigans) was a nice way to end our prep week, the real racing begins on Wednesday. The guys are ready. This trip will only get better.