OTW with Matt Miller, Part IV: Qualifying the Four – Update from Henley

The boat tents at Henley, from the bridge (Photo: Matt Miller)
Good news for Virginia from Henley, as the four has successfully qualified for the Prince Albert Challenge Cup, following their time trial earlier today. While the four had other concerns, Matt and the eight were training both on land and on the water. Here's Matt's update from the shores of the Thames:

There are new faces around the boat tents and on the course every day as we approach dual races starting Wednesday. Friday was a taste of official racing for the qualifying time trials. The eight practiced twice as part of the training program, while the four went out for a course walk-through in preparation for their 5:07 PM time trial.

The UVa men's four after qualifying (Photo: Matt Miller)
A very kind Virginia Tech grad with a house overlooking the finishing area and docks introduced himself earlier in the week. So far from home, traditional sports rivalries are forgotten and fellow Virginians are close friends. Today he invited the eight to watch the qualifying races from his second story balcony. Members of the eight watched with a great view of the varsity four’s commanding performance. They passed University of London’s ‘B’ boat in the first 1000m and successfully navigated swirling winds on their way to qualifying for the event. Virginia was the last of six alphabetically-listed qualifiers to be announced; a result that sent 19 other crews home. The race left some room for improvement and areas of focus for the next few days, but the boat was generally excited to have extended their season by at least five days.

The UVa eight trains on land near the boat tents (Photo: Matt Miller)
Afterward, both boats met at Leander Club for a BBQ dinner of hamburgers, chicken, sausage and pork. The Leander guys I’ve seen on the Thames all week look even bigger in person. They left me feeling short. After seeing Matthew Pinsent and Steve Redgrave around the boat tents Friday, I wonder whether one of these Leander rowers is the next big star of the rowing world. -MM

The UVa men will continue to train through the weekend, and get more familiar with the course and the landmarks. One thing that can be tricky at Henley, especially in your first experience of the regatta, is learning where you are on the course well enough to manage your moves and physiology to the best of your ability. While names like 'The Barrier' conjure up grandiose images, 'The Barrier' itself is actually glorified dividing wall, roughly four feet in height, which can be easy to miss from the boat. However, on such a long course (2112 'metres' to be exact), it pays to know where you are. Head Coach Frank Biller and the UVa squad will have this in mind as the Cavs take to the water over the final days of preparation.

Upcoming: RR Picks and Predictions for Henley Royal Regatta

-RR

Popular posts from this blog

The 30 Best Rowing Coaches of All Time, Part 3: The Top 10

Image
The top 10 best rowing coaches, including guess who (Photo © Iain Weir / Rowing Photography ) It's time for the third and final part of our 3-part series on the best of the best in the rowing coaching ranks. These coaches not only command respect based on performance, but have also shown the ability to adapt to new circumstances, build dynasties, and ultimately help shape the trajectory of rowing as a sport. Honestly, it would be easy to extend this series into 10 more posts... But we wouldn't do that to you. As we've said before, the hope is that the following may serve to educate and spark discussion, as both an appreciation of history and of the coaching craft. Also note: As we stated in Part 1 and Part 2 of this series, there are few women in this list, but that is a reflection of a general underrepresentation of women in the head coaching ranks in our sport—and indeed (as has been well documented ) a growing number of NCAA sports in the United States.
Read more

"I Row Crew" — Rowing in 'The Social Network'

Image
Like many of the rowing faithful, I've been keeping up with the saga penned by Dan Boyne about the filming of the rowing scenes in David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin's The Social Network , and I must say I had high hopes going into the film. The first problem I encountered: the phrase, "I row crew." It was uttered so many times before anyone "rowed crew" on the water that I had trouble buying any of it later. It's understandable that the character of Mark Zuckerberg makes that mistake, since he has no idea about the sport. But when the Winklevoss twins themselves utter the phrase several times, one begins to wonder where Boyne was when these lines were not being chopped or changed. Seriously, who says that? As far as the actual rowing goes, the first scene, which has the twins out training in a pair along with the rest of the Harvard squad, is not all bad — it just ends that way. The line, "Those guys are freakin' fast" is certainly every b
Read more

RR Interview: Nick Trojan's New Feature on Yale Men's Rowing

Image
Nick Trojan's latest feature documentary is twice as long as his previous work—but leaves you wanting more, just the same.  There’s a new feature in Nick Trojan’s series, taking an inside look at top-tier college rowing programs in the US. This time, Trojan focused his project on Yale and the legendary coach Steve Gladstone, blending outstanding camerawork with one of rowing’s most compelling stories.  Having uploaded the video to YouTube only two weeks ago, it’s already approaching 70k views. And for good reason.  RR sat down recently to talk through it all with Trojan in an exclusive interview, from origins to development and finally a finished product—as well as what might come next. Here’s what we learned. Navigating shifting waters Elite rower turned filmmaker Nick Trojan’s new feature, titled simply, “Yale Men’s Rowing,” was years in the making.  “The initial idea was to do the same kind of rinse-and-repeat that we had done with Harvard and Cal,” Trojan says, “but I think wha
Read more

Video Of The Week: Holland Beker 2013

This week's video comes to us from the Bosbaan, where the 2013 Holland Beker saw truly elite, international competition over the weekend. Perhaps the most outstanding racing came in the women's single, where the A Final closely mirrored a world championship or Olympic final in recent years—the lineup included two-time Olympic champ Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus, Kim Crow of Australia, New Zealand's Emma Twigg , reigning Olympic champion Mirka Knapkova of the Czech Republic, another two-time Olympic champion (albeit in the women's eight) in Eleanor Logan , and 2012 Olympic bronze medalist (also in the eight) Chantal Achterberg of Holland. As it turned out, the final was a wire-to-wire victory for Kim Crow, who looks to be on top form and may be the athlete to beat in this event for the foreseeable future, holding off both Karsten and Twigg in the closing stretch, with Knapkova finishing fourth. Elle Logan had another solid race in a great field, finishing just over
Read more

Best Rowing Drills: 5 Favorites of Olympic Champion Esther Lofgren

Image
Lofgren training in the single (Photo courtesy of Esther Lofgren) Olympic gold medalist Esther Lofgren is no stranger to success on the water. In addition to her podium-topping performance with the U.S. women's eight in London, Lofgren also won two world titles (2010, 2011), with her first international medal—a bronze—coming in the women's straight four in 2006. Here, Lofgren shares some insight into the drills that have helped her progress technically along the way.
Read more