We're a half-day removed from the official start of the 2009 Rowing Worlds (and, for all intents and purposes, the 2012 Olympic cycle), and so far, it's all good on the Malta Regatta course in Poznan, Poland. The draw for Sunday and Monday's racing is posted.
It's a post-olympic year, in a global recession no less, so the regatta seems a little smaller than it might be a little later in the cycle. The Light Men's single has the most entries, with 24; in the years preceeding the Olympics in Beijing, it wasn't unusual to see entry counts in the low to mid-30s.
While it's somewhat surprising to see relatively low entry counts in some of the Olympic events, most events will have a healthy amount of speed at the top, and in any event, it's nice to see heats in events that seemed near extinction for a few years, namely the Light Men's 8+ and the Men's Coxed Pair. One event that's off the menu this year is the Men's Coxed Four.
Conditions here today are overcast, cool, and a light tailwind...great for heavyweights, maybe a little tough if you're trying to make weight. The heats of the Light Men's Eight kick off the racing day tomorrow, and we've seen a few crews go by here wearing a few extra layers.
Finally, the (necessarily anonymous) quote of the day: "Lightweight Women's rowing is like our beach volleyball."
Let the racing begin!
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