Sunday at Brentwood

Today (Sunday) was our final day of racing at Brentwood.

The girls were up and on the bus this morning at 5 am this morning. This was indeed a challenge itself as the girls had the regatta dance the night before and we didn't get back to the hotel till about 10:30 pm.  None the less our girls endured the cold weather and tiredness to race in the Junior Varsity 8 at 6:30. This was a very high standard of racing similar to a under 19 8 at nationals to give a comparison. The girls still rowed very well and came away with a respectable 5th.
The next set of races were 4's. Our girls really enjoyed these races and again rowed very well against some very tough competition. Suz, Phoebe, Josie, Gen and Grace raced in the junior varsity A four and came 1st in there heat and 3rd overall. A truly incredible effort, they rowed brilliantly despite a lot of nerves about the event and Josie was quoted saying at the start line "If this is the end, it has been nice rowing with you all".
The 2nd four consisting of Maddie, Georgia, Micha, Jana and Grace also found success rowing in the Junior B four and coming 1st in there heat and overall. A great row and also a fantastic time. The girls looked strong the whole race and led form start to finish. It was great to see the twins get a medal together in the same boat.
A special mention has to go to the 3rd four who were in the same event and although they were an exhibition crew (could not win a medal) they still managed to get the 3rd fastest time overall in that event. So a big congratulations to Yvette, Freya, Laura, Julia, Annabelle.
One of the most gallant efforts of the day had to go to Serena. Serena rowed in the Junior Varsity B double with Annabelle and came 3rd overall, she then backed up straight away not getting out of the boat to row again with Laura in the Junior Varsity A double.  Again a very high standard of rowing, several of the girls they were against were the best rowers at their schools, some on scholarship to American universities starting September and most were 19. Serena and Laura did amazingly well to come away with 4th and showed some real determination and skill to row and get that result.

Overall Pymble came 17th our of 41 schools and 9th in the girls standings. This is an amazing result especially as we only have 16 athletes. If the competition points were relative to the size of the school we would have won the entire regatta. Amazing results!

As we left Brentwood today and Canada tomorrow the girls are a bit said leaving all the good times behind. However they have all made some fantastic friends from around the world and have left a real impression and legacy at the regatta which Im sure will be continued in the future.

Tomorrow we head to Seattle to set our sights on the Windemere Cup. We have organised to train with a variety of school and club crews down at Seattle most of which were so impressed with our results at Brentwood that they asked to train with us.

As we are just past the half way mark of the trip the girls are all on cloud nine and looking forward to racing again. Some are a bit tired...to say the least, so over the next few day we will look to recharge the batteries after 3 very big days and enjoy Seattle and all it has to offer.

Stay tuned.

Tom