RowingRelated

Hanging loose on the water (Screen capture) This week's video comes to us thanks to Julien Bahain of Rowing Canada Aviron, and features a behind-the-scenes look at some of the training the Canadian heavyweights have been up to in 2015.

The Canadian lightweight men's four, training video (Screen capture) This week's featured video comes to us from the Canadian national team, and offers two minutes of pure rowing zen.

The Brazilian men's double training in Rio (Screen capture) This week's featured videos offer two views of the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, one from Chile, and the other from Brazil.

Conlin McCabe (right) and the #TrueNorthFour in San Diego (Photo: B. Kitch)  Wednesdays are coaching days here on RR, and today we thought we would shift gears a little bit from our Best Rowing Drills series, and take a look at preparation for that most important of tests, the 2k. We asked former Crash-B Sprints champion and Canadian Olympic silver medalist Conlin McCabe how he goes about getting ready for a test, from the night before to the warmup.  Here's what Conlin had to say. RR: Do you have a routine that you go through the night before a 2k test? If so, what is it (and what do you recommend)? Conlin McCabe: The night before I test I try to eat a feast — I know in the morning I will be nervous, and I'll have a hard time eating when it gets too close to the race. Thinking about the erg test is inevitable the night before, so I set a chunk of time aside in the evening (10-15 minutes) and make sure I have a solid race plan . Once I have a plan I am confident in...

The above video documents a little of the University of Victoria's winter training, in preparation for the Brown Cup and the spring racing season in 2015. Below, we offer you an official press release from the University of British Columbia , in preparation for this weekend's competition (including preliminary rosters for the UBC men and women), renewing the rivalry with UVic for the 24th time. The UBC and UVic women raced to a very close finish at Crew Classic last weekend, placing third and fifth, respectively, but separated by only 1.6 seconds. What will this weekend hold?

This week, we're throwing it back to the Olympic Games in Athens, and the final of the men's coxless four. In a regatta that was filled to the brim with excellent racing, this might have been the best of the lot. It features a shocking number of the most successful rowing athletes in international racing history, including Matthew Pinsent , James Cracknell , and Jake Wetzel , and the finish has to be seen to be believed—in the end, the victory for Team GB earned Pinsent his fourth Olympic gold medal, securing his place in the pantheon of world rowing. While the above video includes commentary from each of the rowers in the British four, and helps set the stage for a dramatic final, the below offers look at the race in its entirety. Take a closer look at that New Zealand men's four—does anyone look familiar? Mahé Drysdale is sitting in the two seat, and the boat is stroked by Eric Murray . Mind = blown, right? Have an ideal candidate for #TBT for #FBF next week? Sho...

If you're up on the recent travel plans of the Canadian rowing squad (and who isn't?), then you'll know that they just wrapped up a cycling training camp in Southern California, where they put themselves through the paces, climbing their way through the Santa Monica Mountains.  Look fast, feel fast, go fast (Photo courtesy Conlin McCabe) Among the group that traveled south for the winter was 2012 Olympic silver medalist Conlin McCabe , who got his first taste of Southern California cycling, along with fellow Washington alums Will Crothers and Rob Gibson . Here, McCabe shares a little about the training, the cuisine, and the bragging rights from the trip. RR: Was this the first cycling camp you've done as a squad in Southern California? How did this camp differ from other cycling training you've done? Conlin McCabe: This was my first camp in California that was focused on cycling—I have cycled in Sacramento before with the team but the main focus of the camp was ...

Frandsen racing at Kona (Photo courtesy of Scott Frandsen) Triple Olympian Scott Frandsen, who earned a silver medal in the men's pair with Dave Calder in Beijing (just behind the famous duo of Drew Ginn and Duncan Free ), is no stranger to logging mile after mile of training on the water. So, following his second Olympics in 2008, Frandsen found the transition to Ironman Triathlon a natural one, giving him a release from rowing while still developing his endurance fitness and providing him with an intensely competitive outlet. Having raced in his first Ironman in 2009 (Subrau Ironman Canada), Frandsen has competed at the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii, twice, qualifying for the 2014 event by winning the amateur category (and placing ninth overall) at the Coeur d'Alene Ironman in a time of 9:16.36. Here, Frandsen shares what motivates him to train at the elite level, whether it be rowing or triathlon, as well as the importance of patience, nutrition, and ...

The men's sweep Great Eight training on the Charles (Photo: Sean Wolf) With the 50th Head Of The Charles Regatta looming ever larger on the horizon, the athletes and coaches have already begun to show up and start preparing for the main event. Earlier today, resident Charles' expert Sean Wolf of Rowing Illustrated captured several photos of the men's sweepers Great Eight—a crew that we highlighted in our Champ Eight piece recently, and which consists of Joshua Dunkley-Smith (AUS), Olivier Siegelaar (NED), Hamish Bond (NZL), Richard Schmidt (GER), Conlin McCabe (CAN), Henrik Rummel (USA), Francesco Fossi (ITA), and Jacob Barsoe (DEN), with Jack Carlson (USA) at coxswain. Looking at the photo, it appears that the above lineup has stuck, for now at least. Let the pre-race banter continue!

Cristo Redentor, Rio (Illustration: B. Kitch) While there may still be just under two years until the Games begin in Rio, the Canadian and British rowing teams have made the trip already to explore the venue (and, most importantly, take some pretty kick-ass photos of one of the world's most beautiful cities). While they've not been out on the water, even the land training has come with some amazing views. And, what better way to visualize yourself on the start line than to actually go see it, before the main event?

Yesterday we celebrated a historically great duo in the Abbagnale brothers of Italy with our Video Of The Week. Today, we take a look back into the archives once again: On this date in 2004, one of the defining races of the Athens Olympics, and of Matthew Pinsent's glittering career, took place at Schinias Olympic Rowing and Canoeing Centre. The above video gives an inside look at that Olympic final, which, fittingly, came down to the last stroke. While GB crew had no shortage of household names in rowing, the Canadian crew included three-time Olympian (and two-time medalist) Jake Wetzel . In one of the most dramatic Olympic finishes in the history of our sport, the two crews traded slight leads throughout the final 500 meters of the race, with Great Britain eventually winning the day by 0.08 seconds. In the words of Wetzel , "That 0.08 seconds is 10 years of experience. That's what Matthew Pinsent had that we didn't have." Along with his Canadian national t...

This week's featured video comes to us via World Rowing , and makes use of GoPro cameras to take us along for the ride with some of the best athletes and crews in our sport. There's no shortage of big names making an appearance, among them the Kiwi Pair , the men's eight from Australia , and the Romanian and Canadian women's eights. Mixing in a little slow-mo also makes this a good video for coaches to show their athletes, and that soundtrack! (Is this a first for FISA, going all Dubstep on us?) Whether you're new to the sport, or have been involved for many years, it's hard to beat watching a few athletes at the top of their game doing what they do best. Have a submission for 'Video Of The Week?' Shoot us an email at rowingrelated [at] gmail [dot] com, send us your suggestions via Twitter , or get in touch via our Facebook or Google+ pages. We're hoping to cover the World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam, but we need your help to do it. R...

This week's Sunday-edition video comes to us from the idyllic setting for the second World Rowing Cup stop of the 2014 season, Lake Aiguebelette. While it's the picture of natural splendor (and where Jamie Koven won his world title in 1997 ), it's not the easiest name to pronounce, or spell. Fortunately, Nathaniel Reilly-O'Donnell has you covered. Off to Egg-baguette for the @WorldRowing Cup. — N. Reilly-O'Donnell (@nrodtweets) June 18, 2014

Just last month, Canadian Olympic gold medalist Adam Kreek gave a talk at TEDx in Victoria, with the surprising and effective title, "I Seek Failure." Kreek is an outstanding athlete with extraordinary experience in our sport, and what you'll discover in watching this talk, outside of Kreek's sense of humor and infectious positive energy, are some gems from his time while training with the Canadian national team. In particular, his relationship with Jake Wetzel is enlightening, as are Wetzel's comments—in fact, it's Wetzel that gave this talk its name. Wetzel, a triple Olympian, famously battled Matthew Pinsent and the GB men's four all the way to the line in Athens , finishing just 0.08 seconds behind the British, and later won Olympic gold with the Canadian men's eight in Beijing. While Kreek's discussion comes from athletes training at the highest level, the lessons can be applied universally—proving once again that rowing, like Paris, is...

This week's video comes to us from the University of Victoria , and features the Vikes on their August training camp, already starting to build a base for the 2013-2014 season. Throw in a solid soundtrack, and you might just be inspired to throw down a few meters (or metres) yourself, be it on the erg, in the single, on the bike, or even on the track. Like the Vikes, we too are already looking forward to a new season (the Head Of The Charles is now just 39 days away), but we're also still decompressing from what was an outstanding summer of international racing, especially for the U.S. men and women. So, as we start to gear up for the next go round, we'll also be reflecting on the last year with our third annual RoRy Awards —the most sought-after, highly-prized, and distinguished awards in the rowing world (in our opinion, at least). Stay tuned for more on that this week. In the meantime, send us your favorite workout jams for a new erg(o) playlist to get you start...

Australia's Kim Crow might just be the best athlete in women's rowing, coming off an Olympiad with two trips to the podium, and now adding another Australian national title in the women's open single to her outstanding rowing resume. Fittingly, Part 9 (above) of Mike Nicholson's newest film, ' School for Sculling ,' is dedicated to Crow, who entered the racing in Sydney battling some physical issues that have kept her away from her regular training and racing regime, but who still got it done against a very talented field (including U.S. double Olympic champion Elle Logan , who finished just under three seconds back of Crow in second place). The racing at the first World Rowing Cup of 2013 kicks off on Friday morning at 8am Sydney local time, and the strongest squads are likely to be very familiar from the 2012 Olympic Games, with a great deal of the international talent focused on the women's side. Team GB will be looking to get the Road to Rio sta...

Barnes Bridge, Tideway, London (Photo: © B. Kitch) Tomorrow morning, Oxford and Cambridge will send their Trial Eights down the Boat Race course (from Putney to Mortlake) on the Tideway in London, in what will be an important, intra-squad tune-up for the main event, set for 31 March, 2013 at 4:30pm GMT. Dark Blue and Light Blue athletes seeking selection for the top boats have been divided into four crews. Two crews from Oxford, this year called 'Hurricane' and 'Spitfire' for the two most important British fighter planes during the Second World War, will face off against one another. Hurricane includes Yale alum William Zeng at stroke (perhaps most famous for his eloquence following the disruption of the Boat Race last year ), and GB 2012 bronze medalist Constantine Louloudis in the six seat, while the latter includes Canadian Olympic gold (Beijing) & silver (London) medalist Malcolm Howard at stroke. Cambridge will line 'Bangers' up against ...

Yesterday, exactly one month before the rowing begins in London, the official Olympic lineups were announced by Rowing Canada Aviron, and can be viewed in full in the RCA press release posted to RowingNews.com. The men's eight, made up of Gabe Bergen, Jeremiah Brown, Andrew Byrnes, Will Crothers, Douglas Csima, Robert Gibson, Malcolm Howard, Conlin McCabe, and coxswain Brian Price, will undoubtedly be one of the most competitive in the field this year, having taken bronze last season in Bled, and having set a new world's best time in the heats in Lucerne. The above video is another great one coming out of the Canadian camp, giving further insight into what it's like to be a part of the Spracklen training program. Henley Friday has come to a close, and saw out Potomac BC Thames Cup VIII fall to a very competitive crew from Royal Chester. Congrats to Potomac and John Forrest on a solid performance at HRR–as Henley veterans no doubt they'll know where best to drown th...

th <br> The Canadian women laid down a marker in Munich over the weekend, with the U.S. women's eight absent and currently in the process of reshuffling/reloading on home waters for the June 22nd naming date, when the USA men's and women's quads will also be announced, and the U.S. Olympic Rowing Team for London will be complete. The Canadian lineup in Munich featured Princeton grad Lauren Wilkinson (winner of the 2011 RoRy for Female Collegiate Athlete of the Year), another Princeton alum in 2006 grad Andréanne Morin (training for her third Olympics), two-time Big 10 champ with Michigan (and Beijing Olympian in the Canadian W4x), Janine Hanson , Syracuse alum Natalie Mastracci , and 2004 NCAA runner up with Yale, Ashley Brzozowicz , who raced in the CAN W8+ in Beijing along with Morin, and who was recently interviewed by World Rowing, in the video posted above. The stage is set for a cracker of a final in London, with what will likely be a new-...

This week's video comes to us from Lucerne, and features a great early-season match-up between Beijing silver medalists Dave Calder and Scott Frandsen of Canada, and triple world champions Eric Murray and Hamish Bond of New Zealand. Racing at the 2012 USRowing Olympic Rowing (Qualified Small Boats) Trials begins tomorrow, with a chance to race the above crews in the men's pair at the Olympics this summer in London. Further places on the U.S Olympic Team are up for grabs in the women's pair and men's single. Among those entered in the men's pair event (by far the largest number of entries) are Jamie Koven , who is partnered with Mike Blomquist , as well as Jason Read , teaming up with 2011 U.S. men's eight stroke Nareg Guregian . Mike Gennaro and Ty Otto are back in the pair together after a victory in the Pan American Games last summer (the duo doubled-up and took gold in the eight as well), and Silas Stafford (stroke of the U.S. men's four in 2010)...