NSR

It’s a great day to have off from training. It’s still early, but the forecast is for sixty degrees, gray and rain—a perfect kind of day for lounging and watching a rousing mix of movies and daytime television programming. We get to enjoy an off day today because the last three days had all of us at PTC racing in this year’s second National Selection Regatta. I raced in the women’s double event, which had the most entries of any event this year and produced a lot of competitive racing. This was my first appearance at an NSR 2, and my second NSR ever, having only raced the double at last year’s NSR 3. Last year I placed sixth at that regatta. This year, I won.

Wow, what a great weekend. Despite being plagued by pesky thundershowers and mildly oppressive heat all three days, the third NSR turned out well for me and for many of my friends and teammates. The racing in the women’s 2x event was pretty tight, with the field rarely showing more than a few seconds’ spread between top-placing boats.

On May 8, 2007 I woke up at 4:45 a.m. in a stew of turmoil, sweaty sheets and a hole in my gut akin to coffee on an empty stomach. I didn’t even try to go back to sleep; this was the third morning in a row I woke up before 5:00 a.m. and each morning I wasted time lying in bed, hoping sleep might come over me again.

Well, it’s that time again—the third and final of the 2007 USRowing National Selection Regattas is quickly approaching. I’ve already missed out on the first two of the NSRs because of injuries, so at this point I’m excited to do some selection and get in the double to race.

Only .6 seconds separated first place from fourth in the A Final of the Men's Pairs, so if you blinked you missed it. Between the A & B final there were 6 boats within 1.7 seconds of each other.
Thanks to Powerhouse Timing we have the finish line photos for the A & B finals.

The crewing in the semi-finals this afternoon will be the most competitive race, in terms of personnel and experience, since my first speed-order/NSR in the Spring of 2001. Lake Carnegie was tranquil back then. This type of racing format was new for most of us as a key part of selection.