Monday morning at the 2013 Senior Trials was a chilly, quiet morning. Athletes milled about in pre-race trances, silently going through their ritual weigh-ins, warm-ups and stretches before launching. Very few parents or friends were yet there as most of the finals aren’t until Wednesday. This was a morning for rowers and coaches; the kind of race day that defines much of our sport.
The first race was the only final of the day, the lightweight men’s 8+. The CRI crew came down the course solo; having no competitors did not exclude them from racing. The nine men were under no pressure to win this race, but they remembered that this is just a step toward a good performance in Korea; preparation now is essential for their race in three weeks.
"We just tried to keep it very internal," said coxswain Michael Hwang, “we had a set race plan coming in and we knew it would be difficult without other boats pushing us, to fully expend all our energy, but I think we did a relatively good job with it because we were rowing in the confines of our race plan."
Bow seat, Dave Morgenstern added, "Now that we are here, this is the start of it, now this is when the training comes in. We weren’t training for trials, we were training for Korea."
"We’ve known for the past week it was going to be just ourselves for this race, so we were just trying to find as much rhythm as possible and start training for Worlds,” said stroke Sean Gibel, "knowing that we wanted to throw down the best time we could. We are just trying to get as much boat speed as possible to peak in Korea.
The men head back to Boston to continue training before jetting off to Worlds.
The rest of the morning racing included both heats (LM1x, LW1x, M1x) and race for lanes (M2-, LW4x, LM4x, M2+, LM2-). The heat races were a bit more exciting as good performance could mean a day off for those who qualify directly for the final. The LW1x and M1x both sent the winner of each heat to the finals, while the rest will race a repechage tomorrow. The reps will tell a better story of what those finals will look like. The lightweight men’s single heats contained a bit of excitement; U-23 World Champion Andrew Campbell cruised into first place, but Josh Konieczny a Dartmouth rower competing for Craftsbury posted a competitive time in heat two. It should be a great final.
The races for lanes often offer a hint at what the final may look like, but today, a number of boats decided to not race competitively; working to save energy for their final on Wednesday. The range was wide, with some crews perhaps not going all-out, but still staying at rate, while other simply paddled down the course, coming over a minute behind the field. It leaves us with no idea what the final will look like; it will be a surprise for all, including the competitors.
The stakes get higher every day through Wednesday morning's finals. More to come from the Senior Trials as the United States puts together their team for the 2013 World Championships in Chungju, Korea at the end of August.
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