Summer Travels 2010

Canadian Men's Eight racing at Henley Royal Regatta 2010 (b-s:Steve
van Knotsenburg, Gabe Bergen, Anthony Jacob, Conlin McCabe, Rob Gibson, Doug Csima,
Andrew Byrnes, Derek O'Farrell, (cox) Mark Laidlaw) Photo: Kevin Light Photography

It was a busy summer of racing and a strange season for the Canadian Men's National Team.  The World Championships are very late this year (early November) because they are in New Zealand.  Apparently the weather should be more agreeable for racing in November.  This meant that we raced two World Cups in late May and early July, then had a few months of training before leaving Elk Lake for Wanganui, NZ.  During this time the Men's 8+ had the rare opportunity to race at Canadian Henley for the first time since the World Championships were held in St. Catharines in 1999.  It was nice to race on my home course as Team Canada and the spectators were awesome....so much cheering.

We raced the Men's Eight at Henley Royal Regatta (Henley-on-Thames, UK) in early June.  Generally the team uses this event as preparation for the last World Cup in Lucerne, Switzerland.  Our first competitor was Germany and although we raced well, we fell a few seats short by the finish line.  At World's in 2009, the German 8+ was the only crew we couldn't beat, leaving us with silver medals.  They are a polished crew who row very cohesively as a unit, always making them a favourite at any race.  My boat quickly turned our focus on to racing at World Cup III.

Lucerne World Cup recap.....coming soon!