Rowed Rage!

Coming to you from the hot hot heat of BC, it is I once again. Since it is mid-July and I have a lull in homework at the current moment, I find it appropriate to blog about rainy May and my exploits into the sport of rowing. Jealous? You should be, because rowing is quite honestly one of the most fun sports I’ve participated in….well, ever.

Each year UFV sponsors a corporate rowing team for a seven-week, intensive haul culminating with a regatta. After busting our rears while battling excessive bird poop, buckets of rain, and lugging an awkward, massive fiberglass boat weighing close to 150 lbs down treacherous docking, we were out for blood.

The regatta took place at the UBC John MS Lecky Boathouse in Richmond on May 23. We (me and my fellow rower/cubicle neighbour Sara) cut out from work early and took the long drive down to the muddy water of the Georgia Strait.







Since we were all official and whatnot, we even got shirts with both UFV team names crested on the sleeves.


Me, bundled in three shirts, modeling the back.


Sara, modeling the sleeves. Very nice!

So basically there were about 20 newbie teams and probably 12 returning teams. After a few delays, the heats began and everyone got psyched.





As it happened, both of our UFV teams were scheduled to race against one another in the same heat. Yikes!




My team and I getting psyched as we await the arrival of our quad.


Getting all adjusted…and quite nervous.


Our team, out on the far right, by the starting line.

Unfortunately my camera batteries died before any real pictures were taken of our crew slamming into the other UFV boat and going on to win the heat, creaming UFV as well as Stantec. HA!



Thankfully, each team was given two heats so we got ourselves riled up once more before heading onto the water for our final push.




Our wonderful coxswain and coach, Jamie.


Getting re-saddled in. This boat was a lot tippier than our previous boat which put us on edge a bit.


I was stroke seat, which meant I set the pace for my fellow rowers and have massive strength. Hee!





After pushing off and rowing to the starting line once more, we were off and had a great start…





…until our bow seat kind of “whoops’ed” and let her oar get yanked away and caught under the current. We still came in second, so it wasn’t a total wash. I don’t think we would have won that heat anyways since the other team that won was three burly dudes and a woman. We creamed Stantec again though…but I think they really sucked.





While we were a little sad to have lost after our first awesome win, we were also relieved we didn’t have to race again as we were exhausted. We had great times in both our heats, our best time being 1:56 for 500M. Now that we were free, we cheered on our teammates who successfully beat our best time in their heat at 1:55.



Once we were finished, Jean stopped by and we headed into downtown for a delicious bowl of ramen at Benkei. It was soooo gooood.








Mmm…boiled egg…corn…hot boy that was manning the tables…chashu…what?

We capped the evening off by stopping off at the Westin Bayshore to crash a prom. Barred entry, we lazed in the lobby for a short while before our journey home.