Ok, I think this was our best trip to Montreal in many, many years. I don’t know if it was the food, the racing, the sleeping arrangements, or what, but it seemed like everyone had a blast. It was fun introducing the new paddlers to all the familiar racing behavior such as Michael getting lost, Caroline meeting nice people (men), and Walter fast asleep and covered in potato chips.
Let’s start with the racing. We brought our Blue and Red Boats, and they both did really well. Here are the official results:
Blue Boat
Time Trial 1 2:19.00 (Ranked 48th out of 108)
Time Trial 2 2:21.22
500m Final 2:20.26 (Ranked 44th out of 108) Intermediate Division B
250m Final 1:00.17 (Ranked 76th out of 108)
Red Boat
Time Trial 1 2:22.05 (Ranked 83rd out of 108)
Time Trial 2 2:24.06
500m Final 2:27.04 (Ranked 89th out of 108) Rookie Division B
250m Final 1:00.28 (Ranked 79th out of 108)
Yes, the Blue Boat won no hardware, but they ranked better than any LR crew to date and they did it with only 17 paddlers!! They landed in Intermediate Division B, which is a hell of a lot higher up than Intermediate Division G, where we were last year. Their times were consistent. We didn’t have wild swings of 4 to 5 seconds between races which means that everyone is putting in 100% during each race regardless of what’s happening outside the boat, and it means that people are pushing hard at practice. The most amazing fact is that they pulled 12 seconds off their fastest time in Boston. That’s huge!!
Red Boat surpassed my wildest expectations, and trust me, they were wild. Even though the, ahem, mandatory race practice was attended by only about half the crew, they pulled themselves together quick. The timing was generally really good. We had some caterpillaring in the 500m final–it was pretty much the whole boat–but they cleaned it up for the 250. Those paddlers, affectionately known as maggots, fought like lions and streaked down the course in 1:00.28 winning the gold medal and a monstrous trophy in the Rookie B Division. The boat felt fast and light, and I could tell everyone was on time and hitting hard. It’s been a long time since we’ve come home with gold from Montreal, and Red Boat made it happen.
The Red Boat owes most of its success to it’s helm and drummer crew. Ashley and Chris traded places steering, and they both did an outstanding job lining up the boat in really high winds. They never lost their cool, and that made life pretty stress-free for the paddlers. Drumming was excellent. Caroline was a great coach, both on and off the water, talking to paddlers, discussing the strategy, and keeping the team focused on racing.
A big shout out goes to Cindy for organizing rides for 37 crazy people. Many thanks go out to Karla, Phoebe, Chris, Nila and others who organized food for all of us. A big wet, sloppy thanks goes out to Teresa and Hien for setting up dinner arrangements–yes, it took an hour and some bloodshed to get served, but once the food came it was amazing!! Thanks go out to Linda and Nancy, our ringers from Hartford, who came up to paddle with us. And a huge thanks goes out to my team President and first wife, Sandy, who worked tirelessly to make everything work smoothly.
I had a great time paddling with you all. Who’s ready to do it again in NY?
