Though it's a bit blustery and bumpy on the course at the moment, Lake Karapiro, set in the midst of rolling hills and horse ranches, is patently ready for the Worlds to start tomorrow. Folks here are amped; on the way to the course, shops and residences are festooned with a surprisingly non-parochial variety of flags and slogans ("Go Chile!"), while Team Canada has already been adopted by a pub in downtown Hamilton (or is it the other way around?).
The opening ceremony had the appropriate local color (as opposed to last year's wingnuttery), with a group of Maori doing a traditional "haka" ritual dance to welcome the competitors and officials to New Zealand and the venue, followed by remarks from the Maori King, King Tuheitia. Check out our gallery from the opening ceremony as well.
This is just the 3rd time that a rowing Worlds has been held in the southern hemisphere; the 1978 Worlds were held here, and in 1990 Worlds were in Tasmania, Australia. More fun facts about the 2010 Worlds, cherry-picked from the FISA bulletin:
The course was closed briefly this morning due to whitecapping conditions, but boats were back on the water practicing by the afternoon. See our video for more views of the venue and the opening ceremony.
Racing gets underway in earnest with the first 10 events at the regatta tomorrow, and the US will represent in every event contested. FISA is trying a new schedule at this worlds, with the first set of medal finals happening on Thursday this time around, or a day sooner than usual. What this means, in practice, is that 18 of the 24 events at the regatta will have finished by Saturday afternoon, which will likely translate into a lot more athletes out and about during the later stages of the week. That, and given the high density of tattoo parlors here (I saw at least four just getting into town today), makes me wonder if a lot more folks than usual will leave NZ with permanent souvenirs from Worlds 2010 at weeks' end?
On to the racing!
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11/01/2010 5:33:36 PM
11/01/2010 8:30:51 AM