Saturday was a blistering hot day in Vancouver. Even at 7:30 in the morning the heat made the air feel sticky. We arrived with plenty of time before our 9:48am heat. We loaded up on water, fruit and Gatorade, put on sunscreen and tried to stay cool and relaxed in the tents. Selina showed me some yoga, which I think really helped me stay calm and keep my muscles relaxed. Our team warmed-up and stretched and Lori, our captain, emphasized that the days races would ultimately affect our standings.
They had fallen behind schedule (as usual!), but we headed over to the marshalling area. Someone commented on how well we loaded into the boat! Believe me, this is important. Nine teams, with 22 people each can create a lot of chaos.
We ran through a couple of starts to warm up. I pulled hard to get my blood pumping and the adrenaline up, did breathing exercises and visualized the race. At the referee's command, Fred, our steersman moved us up to the staging line. The whole team was so ready and focused you could feel it. "Starter has the race." "Thank you Mr. Water Referee...All boats move up to the line. I will hold you on the line. Do not hold back, I will start the race without you....boat 2 hold, boats 4, 5 move up, boats 1 and 3 hold...9 hold....7 hold. Attention please. Go!" The signal was so quiet, we could have missed the start. No gun, just the word "go," but we were focused and ready! We had a good start and dropped into our race pace nicely. Good power from the boat.
We finished third in that race, beaten by Team 20/20 and Dragonauts by just over 1 second. But in that race we beat the Canadian Construction Women and Team Port Vancouver, strong teams that have typically been faster than us, and Zamboanga, the team that would ultimately win the Rec B division.
Our second race would be the Quarter Finals and would determine which division we belong to. Our third place finish meant that we had first and second place finishers from other heats that would likely be our biggest competition. We were expected to finish in the top four in this race. Top two teams would go to the Rec A division, and third and fourth would be in Rec B.
The pace of the first race was a bit fast, so we dropped it a bit for this one. Ruby called several power series, there was a good surge, but maybe a bit of panic in the boat as we could feel the other boats close by. We finished fourth, close behind the top teams and well ahead of the trailing teams and made the Rec B division. Our sister teams 2.0 and 5.0 made Rec B and Rec C. Excellent accomplishments! We were done for the day, so we got lots of rest for the next day's races.
Sunday was much cooler, with high cloud covering most of the sky. The morning rituals were a repeat of the previous day, but there was a bit of anxiety. A first or second place finish was required to advance to the finals. 5.0 had already made the finals in their division. Our team had lots of endurance and power, so our strategy was to have an excelllent start, cruise, and then call an early finish and power away from the other boats. The tide was very low and we were in Lane 1. In the back of my mind, this worried me. We had a good start, and cruised with a good pace, but we were pushing the rate a little. We passed the half-way mark and Ruby called the finish. I could feel the surge from the back of the boat -- we were gaining on the other boats and we could hear the crowd going wild! It was deafening! A wake hit the side of our boat, but we still managed to power through the finish. We looked up and all the other boats were right beside us. Was that enough? Did we make it?
Even Kevin, our coach watching from the shore couldn't tell. We went on the assumption we came in second. When Simon, our manager came in with the official results, we were shocked. Sixth! Seven-tenths of a second behind the 2nd place finisher! We were done for the day. It hit us hard and we had lots of time to dwell on how there was no second chance, or if we hadn't been in Lane 1, or hadn't been hit with the wake, or if we had just pulled that much harder. Six teams finishing withing 1.5 seconds is unbelievable! One-mississippi, and 6 boats cross the finish line. No wonder the crowd was going wild. I heard from someone that it was just unbelievable to watch and that our surge at the finish was incredible. Every year, my experience is a little different and this year, that is what I'll remember the most. That's why I keep going back for more.
We still had the Specialty Cup, and one more chance at some hardware. We watched 5.0 put on a good fight for in the final only to finish 8th. I could see that they were disappointed. The team is extremely athletic, strong and enthusiastic, despite being made up almost of entirely novice paddlers. We went to cheer them at the dock. Making the Rec C final was nothing to sneeze at!
Yvonne and I were lead strokes for the "all-star" team that would race for the BC CTV Media and Communications Cup. We have only practiced once, but this was an extremely powerful team. Still, we came in third to Team Storm and www.roli.com-Around the Globe. Kevin said that these were our biggest competition in this race and he was right. There was a huge spread between all the teams in this race.
I watched the Competive A final, which TD Thunder won, as they always do. Seeing the speed of the competitive teams is inspiring.
Of course, once we were all done, we had the traditional water fight and "dunking" of the coaches, captains and callers.
