We talk to a lot of savvy scullers about their lines and about how the Charles is a coxswains race, but what is it like to race it in a pair?
One of the best women's pairs in the world today, Australia's Annabelle Mcintyre and Jessica Morrison, gave it a go this year as the event returned as an invitational for international crews, so row2k figured this was a good chance to see what an elite pair rower thought of the chance to race the bends and bridges that define the Charles.
Mcintyre and Morrison, who became Olympic champions together in the Women's four for Australia in Tokyo and just missed the A Final while doubling up in the pair at the Games, arrived in Boston after two World Cup wins and a Worlds' silver medal so far in 2023. They took the win on Saturday ahead of USRowing's Kelsey Reelick and Molly Bruggeman.
We asked Mcintyre what the key was to finding the speed they've shown on straight courses when faced with a race that is anything but, and how they prepared during the week for the race.
"It's definitely just keeping the rhythm nice and relaxed," she said, so they could have good speed but still make the turns required.
"I steer but Jess tells me where to go, so it's really important to have very clear communication. It's a lot of trust on my part in her, and if she says go to bow, I go to bow. I don't question. I just do what she says and I trust that she has the line that she wants and she's making the best decisions for us."
To learn the course, they got out twice in the pair, said Mcintyre, and once in the coxed four they would be racing in the Champ 4+ event together with the USA women's pair, Alie Rusher and Meghan Musnicki.
You can read about how the four turned out with that quartet of Olympians in the full Sunday report but, spoiler alert, it went really well.
"The first time that we went out was in the coxed four," Mcintyre said. "That was really good, so we could get a sense of what was going on. The second time we practiced, we were borrowing a pair so it wasn't the boat we raced in and it was bow-steered as well. So Jess was looking and steering. She did a really good job but it's just not what is not our usual set-up."
With the boat-borrowing, it actually turned out that they had just one outing with that normal set up before the race itself.
"Our last practice run was with me steering and Jess calling...and the right boat."
As Mcintyre told row2k in Belgrade at Worlds, the Aussie pair is very much looking forward to their ultimate goal: the Paris Olympics next year.
"We've come a long way, rowing the last eight months together after a break," she said then, "so we're looking forward to seeing what we can do."
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