As in the last few years, my rower friends and I started training around mid summer for our annual trek to Boston for the 40-50 master's event at the Head of the Charles. This has developed into an extremely competitive race, with Penn AC becoming a big rival. In 2002, we headed out east for the first time in this event, and after starting in position 30, we finished the race in sixth place. When we returned in 2003, we won the race with a buffer of about 12 seconds. This meant that in 2004, we would start in first place, which is a big advantage in this race. We managed to hold onto our title in 2004, but Penn AC was only two seconds behind us. In 2005, Penn AC prevailed in the race by a margin of less than three seconds.
Our workouts started as in years past a little informal, where we would meet after each row and decide what day we would all be able to row next. This lasted for a couple weeks before Matt stepped up to the plate and challenged us with the following: if we want to win the race, we had better get serious about our training. From then on we rowed five days a week, and we picked up some good boat speed as a result.
My favorite workout to do in Seattle is what we call the "Tour de Lac", which I believe was originally invented by John A. in the late 90's when we were training for the 2000 Henley. The piece begins at the starting line of the UW race course, proceeds all the way to the locks, at which point we turn around as fast as we can and then head back to finish in front of Pocock. The row typically takes just under an hour to complete. Back in the day, we used to do this about once a week.
To my delight, we worked in "Tours" on a regular basis while training for the 2006 HOC. We also did a number of "bridge-to-bridge pieces" between the Ballard bridge and the Freemont bridge for times; by the time we left for Boston, we were covering this distance in under 7:45 consistently, which is pretty fast for an "old guy" boat. By the end of October, I was feeling confident but anxious about the race.
On Thursday morning, October 19, Joann drove me to the airport for my flight to Boston. Joann was not able to join me this year because of issues with her pregnancy. Friday morning we all met at the boat and went for a row. As is normal, it was hard to get much more than about 20 strokes of full-pressure strokes in before we had to stop due to the heavy boat traffic, but it was good to check the rigging and work off some of my nervous energy.
On Saturday, the day of our race, it was really windy on the course but it was sunny and comfortably warm. Once we started the race, our boat rowed well but there was a really nasty headwind the whole way down the course. The first mile seemed like an eternity, with my forearms getting sore almost immediately due to me fighting the wind while feathering. Our coxswain John kept telling us were making up distance to the Penn AC boat right in front of us, but I never had a strong sense that we were making a move. We took the rate up after rounding under Eliot bridge, and we emptied the tanks in the last stretch.
Our boat about to pass under Weeks bridge. The lineup was: John (cox), Bryan (stroke), Mike, Trevor, Matt, John, Chapin, Max and Chris (bow).
Our boat just after passing under Weeks bridge. The Penn AC boat is about three lengths open in front of us.
Our boat after passing under Elliot bridge.
After the race was over, I felt confident that we had gone as fast as possible, but I was uncertain about whether or not we had won. We put the boat in slings, and we were all milling around when Trevor said "two seconds" while looking at his phone. Did we lose? "We won!" We erupted in cheers... what a close race!
To celebrate, Matt, Trevor, Meg and I headed into Cambridge for some beers, nachos, and French fries, and then we went back for the awards ceremony to get our medals.
After the race.