Tuesday 24 June 2014

Day One of the Henley Women's Regatta

Friday

Hello from England!

Friday was the first official day of the Henley Women's Regatta.

Our day started out with a lovely 8:30am breakfast (Thanks for letting us sleep in Coach!). Then we proceeded to walk down the scenic footpath and visited the Henley Rowing Club one more time before our departure. The Waddell 8 met with Coach to prepare for their race as the Barolli 8 started a solid, but helpful workout with Paul.

After both boats finished their workouts, everyone headed up to the house for a relaxing lunch and enjoyed some downtime before the Waddell 8's big race.

Being in the Barolli 8 and having a bye on the first day of the race allowed me to get a feel for the overall experience and excitement of an international regatta. Seeing two boat races so close to shore was really amazing.

Soon it was that time, time to send the Waddell 8 off with the WPI fight song! Cheering for an American crew in a different country makes the race that much more exciting and meaningful.

                                            The Waddell 8 in action (Photo Credit: Pat Guida)

After the race, everyone booked it back up the hill to the house to change in time for a formal reception at the Rowing Museum on the other side of the Thames. We were introduced to an inspirational Olympian who introduced herself as a person aside from an Olympian. She explained to us that she had once thought that becoming an Olympian was an unreasonable goal to set for herself, but she said "I'm just a person and everyone who participates in the Olympics is just a person, therefore it isn't out of anyone's reach." The reception consisted of all the international rowers that were participating in the Henley Women's Regatta this weekend, including Bowdoin College and Drexel University from the U.S.

Well it's time to go race the University of London on the Thames!

Cheers,
Kayla

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