Conditions until the finals began were steady headwind, but fairly flat conditions down the course. Then in finals, the wind came up, cross head from lane 8 to lane 1, and quite rough for the first 1/3rd of the race.
Ballarat, 9 Oct '02, 8:38 pm
As planned, we scratched the D8+ (eight man boat, averaging at least 50 years of age, but les than 54). Reason: if we had rowed the D8+, two of our people would not have raced at all today. So, the 3 events we entered today yielded 1 gold and 2 silver medals. They were the G4+ (four man with cox, averaging at least 65, but less than 70), the C4+ (at least 43, but less than 50) and the F8+ (an eight man crew averaging at least 60, but less than 65).
In the G4+, we won our heat, qualified for the final, and won the gold medal by open water ( i.e. more than one boat length).
In the C4+, there were 48 crews entered, including the Dynamo crew from Moscow, Russia, that had not lost a race this year. We won our heat and semi-final in fastest 500m split and fastest overall time, including a victory over Dynamo in the semi-final. In the final, we were absolutely tied with Dynamor from just past the 500 meter halfway mark until 12 strokes to go. They outsprinted us in the last 12 strokes for the gold and we won silver in an incredible race in headwind conditions. They were in lane 7, we in lane 3, with a bow-quartering headwind blowing from lane 8 across the course towards lane 1. I could see the Russian bow ball creasing the parallel line of buoys exactly as our bow ball crossed the same line for about 430 meters at the end of the race. Everyone else was way back.
In the F8+, a great Australian eight from Melbourne, the Banks Rowing Club, defeated us in the heat, and again in the final. They have been rowing together 5 days/week since the Sydney gmes ended and deserved the victory. Germany was third, more than a length behind us. This was our second silver medal today, and the third medal in our 3 events, so everyone sees the start here for us as good. There are still 3 days, and many more events to go.
Tomorrow we are rowing a B-age group men's coxed four in the A4+ event, so we are giving up a lot of years, and will be fortunate to make the finals, much less medal. But this crew will be racing in the B4+ event Saturday, so it is a good practice session if nothing more. Our medal events tomorrow (hopefully) are the F4+ ( 3 Olympic medalists in our boat which averages exactly 60 in a 60-64 age group) and the G4x (4-man quadruple sculls) .
All 500m splits and final times for the heat, semi-finals and finals today can be viewed at www.2002worldmasters.com. Just click on "Sports Venues", then on "Rowing", then on "Results"
Kent