LONDON - When the beep that signaled the start to their race sounded and the six boats on the line went, Margot Shumway and Sarah Trowbridge got to work.
Rowing as fast as they could, they ignored the fact that the loud and constant beeping hadn't stopped. They were going fast and Shumway, of Westlake, Ohio, thought nothing of it. In fact, she said she was used to it from the bus rides over from the Olympic athlete village to the course at Eton Dorney.
"We had a great start and then the starting system failed and we didn't know if it was a false start," she said. "We didn't know what was going on. I was joking with Sarah later that on some of the bus rides here, there is a constant beeping noise, so that prepared us because there was a beep that would not stop.
"I was thinking, 'Okay, we're going to go with that through the whole (two thousand meters)."
It didn't work out that way. Something was wrong, all six crews knew it, and when the sisters Lenka and Jitka Antosova of the Czech Republic stopped rowing, so did the rest of the crews.
The boats were called back to the line, and Shumway and Trowbridge refocused, had an even better start, and rowed their way into the final of the women's double sculls from this morning's repechage. Even with the confusion, it was the beginning of a pretty good day for three of five United States crews.
In addition to Shumway and Trowbridge, the lightweight double sculls team of Julie Nichols (Livermore, Calif.) and Kristin Hedstrom (Concord, Mass.) and women's single sculler Gevvie Stone (Newton, Mass.) all advanced.
Rowing in the quarterfinal of the men's single, Ken Jurkowski (New Fairfield, Conn.) finished fifth and will now row in the semifinal for a place in the either the third or fourth-level final.
The lightweight men's four crew of Robin Prendes (Miami, Fla.), Nick LaCava (Weston, Conn.), William Newell (Weston, Mass.) and Anthony Fahden (Lafayette, Calif.) rowed in the semifinal of their event, but finished fifth and will row in the B final.
"I'm just disappointed that we didn't have our best race and didn't make it through," said Fahden. "It's a really fast field. We haven't had a chance to talk about it and pinpoint where we can improve and go from there. It wasn't an entirely terrible race, there were some bright spots, but we weren't able to put everything together perfectly."
While the men's single and lightweight men's four are now out of medal contention, the U.S., as of today, has five boats rowing for a place on the Olympic podium beginning tomorrow with the men's eight, the women's quadruple sculls, and the women's pair.
For Shumway and Trowbridge, having made the final was no small accomplishment.
Both had been cut from the women's team and the U.S. training center last fall, but earned their spot here in London after accepting a roll down bid at the Olympic selection regatta for non-qualified boats when the two crews from the U.S. training center that placed ahead of them declined the bid.
The pair took the opportunity and went to the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta in May and won, making the boat eligible to race in the Olympics. They missed a direct qualification to the final in their Monday heat, but made no mistakes here today.
When the boats were called back to the blocks after the first start was stopped, they got right back to the task.
"They called us back and they did a flag start without the boot (the mechanism that holds the boat bows in place) and we had a great start and then got into our rhythm," said Shumway.
Shumway and Trowbridge were immediately in the hunt for the top two qualifying spots, trailing in third in the first quarter of the race. The Czech sisters led early, but were overtaken by China in the second 500 meters, while the U.S. continued to chase in third.
During the third quarter, both U.S. women sensed a change in speed in the Czech boat and it fueled their drive even more.
"I think first we focused internally. It was about our race plan, just me and Margot working as one," said Trowbridge. "But then we could just feel that slight die from (the Czechs), that slight speed loss from them, and it just put us into instinct mode and we went after them, just pounding down the course," she said.
"We got to the 1,250 (meter mark) and I called a move," Shumway added, "and when we got to the five hundred, I knew we were right there. I just said, 'More, up, more.' Sarah just went, and I went with her.
"It definitely wasn't pretty at the end, but we were going like hell and it paid off. The Czechs rowed an awesome race and it definitely made us a faster crew today and we came out on top."
The U.S. nipped the Czech Republic, 7:10.37 to 7:11.68. China won in 7:09.65.
Next to qualify was Nichols and Hedstrom in the lightweight women's double sculls. There was no chasing in this race. While they also missed a direct advance from the heat on Monday, they were leaving nothing to chance today.
Jumping off the start and into the lead, the pair built a sizeable lead through the first 1,500 meters and appeared unchallenged until the Canadian crew of Lindsay Jennerich and Patricia Obee made a push and inched closer in the final 500 meters.
They could not make the sprint work, and the U.S. won in a time of 7:13.82, followed by Canada in 7:15.37.
"We were definitely on a mission to make sure we advanced and to do it as well as possible," Nichols said. "We made some improvements from last time, but there is still a little room to go.
"I'm excited to be on to the next step," Nichols said. "We're still on track and I'm looking forward to the next round of racing.
"We're trying to just race like we always race, and approach it the same way we do any other race and try not to get overwhelmed, not try to make it feel any different than anything we normally did."
Nichols said she was not surprised by the Canadian move in the last 500 meters. "That's the way Canada usually races," she said.
"I felt like that was a good performance," Hedstrom said. "And we're just looking to build every race. We're looking forward to the semifinal and we're feeling good. We just take it step by step. It feels great. This is a wonderful course to race on and the stands are really like no other place I've raced. It's exciting to be out there."
Like in the first race of the day, there was a bit of confusion in the women's single race, but this was all on Stone. She is not known for having fast starts and she didn't this morning. She expected that, but not what she thought she saw when she looked around to assess her situation in the second 500 meters.
"It wasn't the best start, as you know," Stone said. "It tends to be my race pattern, not the my race plan, and I was definitely in a bad position, I'd say, coming across the first 500 meters. I glanced across then, and I could just see people up on me on the right side of the course and I thought, 'I've got to make the most of this next 500.'
"And at the thousand, I took another glance, and I misjudged who was who, thinking that (Sanita Puspure of Ireland) was the El Salvadorian and that Frida (Svensson of Sweden) was Sanita."
El Salvador's Camila Vargas Palomo was in sixth at that point, Sevensson was in second, Puspure was in fourth. Stone imagined she was last.
"I thought, 'Oh crap, I need to beat that girl, so over the next 500, I was thinking, I need to finish third, I need to beat that girl. It wasn't until it was 500 to go when I looked across and thought, 'Wait, that's Frida. Sanita is behind me. I might as well go for it now that I'm here,'" she said, laughing.
"So then it ended up being a great last 500 to the (finish). I was trying to focus on moving the boat effectively, getting the most out of each stroke and being more aggressive than I was. I went up two beats about 250 to go, and then another two beats in the last fifteen strokes to I think a 38 (strokes per minute).
"I still have stuff to work on in the first 500, but it was definitely a good race."
Stone will now race in the semifinal Thursday.
"It's great," she said of advancing. "Everyone out there was racing their guts out and you could see it coming across the 500. I think Cuba was up on me at the 500, I'm pretty sure, and I've raced Sanita a few times this season and I know she is a tough competitor. I knew she wasn't going to let up the whole race and she really went out hard. Hopefully I can improve on it on Thursday and Saturday and keep going fast."