"Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing -- absolute nothing -- half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats"
- Kenneth Grahame , "The Wind in the Willows"
Seems fitting to start row2k's coverage of the 2006 Worlds from Eton/UK with a nod to the locals. There are a lot of folks messing about in boats outside of where we are sitting right now in the Media Centre, that's for sure.
First off: the competition schedule and the draw for Sunday's racing.
All cliches about British weather notwithstanding, the weather outside is typically British; that is to say, a mix of sun, clouds, wind, rain and temps in the low 60s. row2k packed for the heatwave that gripped Europe two weeks ago, only to arrive and find weather more like head racing season.
The wind today was a shifty cross headwind. There are concerns about fairness on Dorney Lake under certain wind conditions (at the 2005 World Cup regatta held here, lanes were redrawn due to wind), so crews will likely have lanes on their minds during tomorrow's heats.
If there is a crosswind, aligning starting the crews may be complicated by the fact that Eton College, who nominally owns the racecourse, have not allowed FISA or the LOC the installation and use of the full starting mechanism, which includes the boot that holds the bows of crews once they are locked on to the starting platform. Without this boot, crews will drift in the lanes while they are being aligned and polled, and, with racing slated for six-minute centers tomorrow, there's little wiggle room for alignment adjustments.
Teething pains: as reported earlier on row2k athletes from Cameroon, Nigeria, Morocco, Kenya and now Moldova were denied entry visas to the UK as they were travelling to the regatta. All told, the number of athletes affected (and who will not be rowing at the championships as a result) is around 30. Perhaps understandable, given the UKs current jitters about travel and terrorism, but that's a heckuva way to shrink the athlete pool.
Official numbers for the champs: 1101 rowers from 64 countries will participate; 398 crews in all. According the the local organizing committee press release, this is "an all-time record for number of nations and rowers entered."
The LOC has hit their own small bumps in the road; problems involving transportation have bedevilled the organizers somewhat, while the laminating machine at the accreditation center caught fire the other day (while laminating the signs pointing out Fire Extinguishers, natch).
Roster hijinks: on the FISA handout for Monday's racing, the rowers in the Turkey LM2x have their birthdays listed as "1/1/1900," prompting on one of the local wags to quip: "those guys are old, but we're having a drink with their parents later this afternoon!"
Roster hijinks II: earlier this week, Matt Muffelman of the US LM4- was listed twice on the start list for his event, prompting predictable jokes about the US position on stem cells and cloning.
More than one local official commented positively on the behavior of US crews, both on the docks and on the water. According to one official, USA crews were "the most well-behaved squad at these championships." High praise in the land of Jeeves, indeed.
On the flipside, a team that will remain unnamed made few friends, when they set off fire alarms fairly late at night in their accomodations, a result of athletes smoking in their rooms.
Slumming with royalty: US team doc Tim Hosea made the most of a recent idle day to fit in a round of golf with Sir Steve Redgrave: no word on whose stroke was sweeter.
Racing begins tomorrow at 9:30am local time, with heats in the W4-.
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