Arrived at the National Champsionships in Welland

I have arrived safely in Welland at the Canadian National Small Boat Championships. By saying small boats, I mean pairs and singles. (pairs=2 men-1 oar each single=1 man-2 oars) We won't be racing the Men's 8 here since this regatta is being used as selection criteria for athlete Olympic Camp invitations and the coaches can best assess the speed and potential of individuals when they are in small boats. This regatta also gives club rowers from across Canada a chance to race the best and see how fast they are and gauge whether they have the potential to make the team in the future. It is also good for them to see how the top in the country race and conduct themselves, it can be a good learning experience.
Why are coxswains not included you ask? Well....my job is difficult for a coach to quantify in one race, and since a lot of what I do needs to be assessed by the members of the Men's 8, my trial isn't fully completed until the Olympic Eight is selected in the spring of 2008. At the present time there is only one other cox at the training centre in Victoria. He was our Under-23 Men's 8 cox this year and is the "next" one should I ever decide to retire from the sport.....ahhhh.....I'm still young at 31....well sorta....I can cox forever!!!

Back to the small boat regatta here in Welland. The race will take place at the South Niagara Rowing Club's boathouse. (www.southniagararowingclub.com) It is located on a 4km stretch of the Old Welland Canal. We can't row out on the main canal as it is an active shipping waterway and unless we want to get into major trouble with the authorities, we just stay clear. The ships produce large waves anyway which isn't conducive to good rowing.

I'm on my way into Brampton to visit the Clark St. office today from 1:00-2:30pm. (Oct 31) Hope to meet more of the Trow family today!!

Bad Weather Doesn't Stop Us

Here in Victoria we train on Elk Lake.....it is a freshwater lake located minutes from the ocean on the main highway into the city.
I would guess that when most people think of Victoria they think of rain and also confuse Victoria with Vancouver. I want to remind everyone that we are located on Vancouver Island and that we do not get as much rain as Vancouver does....in fact....it doesn't rain here all the time....I have experienced very pleasant winters and have played golf in February numerous times.

The reason that I want to talk about weather is simple. This summer was great out here....but the past couple of days reminded me of the upcoming winter and the odd weather that can occur here on a regular basis. On Friday I had on sunglasses, then a rain coat, then just a sweater, then a rain coat, then sunglasses......then all three!! It rained, it was windy, then calm on the water, then sunny, then overcast....we had it all.

At the beginning of the day we have to always ask ourselves a few questions......Would the Germans train in this? Would the Americans train in this? Who wouldn't train in this? We certainly feel that we are the toughest rowers in the world and we get that attitude because we never let anything stop us....not wind...not rain...not snow....not sleet.....the only things that stop us are fog and ice. Our coach always reminds us that everyone has a point at which they do not want to continue.....we always make sure that our point is without a doubt farther than any other person that we would be competing against. I'll be honest.....it would be very easy to not go out when it is pouring down with rain, but what would you accomplish for that row...nothing. Sometimes, just by going out you show your team-mates just how determined you are by heading into tough conditions. For me, it is all in my head.....it might suck....but it is my mind that thinks it sucks....I know from experience that I can gain while my German competitors are hopefully sitting in their boathouse in this kind of weather. I am not willing to take the chance that they might get a row in ahead of me, I'm just not willing to give that up to them.

Next time you are going to work in the rain or snow....think of us out on Elk Lake in Victoria rowing....and loving every minute of it!!

Above is a picture of contrast between a summer scene and an extreme winter scene on the launching dock at our boathouse here in Victoria...notice the snow on the dock

Upcoming Events

This fall we had the potential to be extremely busy, but as a crew we decided to pick our events that we either wanted to attend or we were required to attend. I will expand on this thought in a future posting, but once you win a World Championship.....everyone calls you to attend their regatta or banquet. Trow locked me in before I won again....I have a soft spot for you guys!!

I've passed on a couple of regattas so far this fall, its nice to travel but now that I have my babygirl Brianna, my wife needs me more at home. Most of the members of our crew is very experienced now and we always evaluate what we will gain when deciding what regatta or event to attend. Our coach set it out very plainly the other day. If you feel it will help you to win in Beijing, then you should do it. If it is just a "fun" trip, or you have any doubts as to its importance, don't do it. At this level....its all about winning medals....our focus is on that gold medal.

With all that being said, there are a few events that we will be attending in the near future.

1. Canadian National Championships - Welland, Ontario November 1-4
We used to call this event "Speed Orders". Basically for the simple concept that you were judged in the order of your speed and team selection were generally based upon these results. Last year was the first year that we have run a "National Championships". This is a good thing as young and up-and-coming athletes can attend this regatta and compete against the best in the country and assess themselves against the National Team Members. It also gives my coach a chance to see what the talent is like coming up the pipe.
The really good news about this regatta is that I will have a chance to visit one or two GTA Trow offices. It is yet to be determined where I will be stopping by, but hopefully I can see as many as time allows me to fit in around the regatta scheduling.
I will not be competing at this regatta as it is for "small" boats only.....ie pairs and singles My job will likely be to drive an umpire/official boat to make sure all races are conducted fairly. (and any other odd jobs that come up....not an errand boy....a job completion boy!!!)

2. Olympic Venue Pre-Scouting Camp
Shanghai/Beijing, China - November 6-14

We fly into Victoria at 1:30 on Nov 5 and fly to China at 7am Nov 6. Just enough time for me to wash my clothes and repack my bag and fly about 12 hours to Shanghai. We are going on this trip to visit our pre-Olympic training camp venue in Shanghai for 2 days, then we will fly to Beijing and row on the Olympic Rowing course for 5 days. We will also be staying in the actual hotel that we will be using during the Olympic competition next year. Why not stay in the Olympic Village you ask? Good question. When we stayed in the village in Athens and it was great. The transportation to and from the course was terrible and we were never really able to rest and train on our own schedule. The Olympic Village is a 40min car ride in today's traffic....who knows what it will be like during the Olympics. Our hotel is only 6km from the course and we will have our own transportation so we will be able to make our own schedule. We are extreme creatures of habit....you guys need your Tim Hortons coffee....we need our strict schedule.

So those are the 2 main events for me this fall. I will of course be posting pictures of these trips so you can all see them.

I am really looking forward to meeting more Trow employees and keep coming back to the blog during the event times as I will try and post more than usual during these exciting times.

Thankyou TROW!!!

I would like to extend a huge thank you to everyone at Trow for allowing me to become your Olympic adopt-an-athlete.

I was in Munich preparing for the World Championships when I heard that Trow was eager to provide me with support as I continue my journey towards the Olympics in Beijing next summer. The executives at Trow made this decision before the big win and for them to extend this commitment to me prior to winning shows me what type of people work at and run this company.

I am really looking forward to a great year of interaction between myself and all of you. I'll be posting updates on this blog at least once a week, and possibly more when things are busy. I'll have the odd contest for those of you with kids to win a piece of signed memorabilia from the World Champion Men's Eight. I will try to make visits to some of the offices if I can, unfortunately I won't be able to make it to see all of you, but I will do my best if I am ever in your area. Please take the time to comment on any of my blogs that I post and if you ever have any questions, please email me and I will be sure to answer them. This interaction could be very helpful in steering this blog to give you the type of information you want to know from an Olympic athlete. That's what it is all about....an inside look at the life of an Olympian less than a year before the final in Beijing.

All for now....it is great to be a member of the Trow team once again.
















Dan McNicoll, myself & Bruce Thomas
My former Ottawa Branch Manager & Infrastructure Manager
Sept 11, 2007 Branch Visit

Meet the World Champion Men's 8

You know about me, so I figured that you should find out a little bit about my team-mates.
The great thing about an eight are all the personalities involved. Each guy brings different talents to the table and it is the job of our coach to use these talents to make the eight go fast.

As you know, I sit at the stern, or back of the boat. Each member is assigned a number from bow (front) to stern (rear). The bowman is also known as #1. The guy who sits in front of me is #8 and is also known as the stroke man.

Here we go

(L-R) Dominic, Ben, Jake, Andrew Kevin, Mike (coach), Malcolm, Kyle, Me, Adam (seated)

#1 - Kevin Light - 6'4" 200lbs - Sidney, BC 28yrs old
I have been rowing on the National Team with Kevin since 2000. I was the spare for the Sydney Olympics and he was rowing the Under-23 Men's Pair. I started to give him pointers & tips as he wasn't getting much attention from the head coach at the time. The coach saw me doing this and asked me if I would like to be the coach of the U23 Pair and take them to the Under-23 World Championships. I of course said yes and we won a silver medal together! We have been members of the Eight from 2001-2005 & 2007.
Kevin is a 2-time World Champion in the Eight, won a bronze medal in the Men's Pair in 2006 and was also in the Olympic Eight in Athens.
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#2 - Ben Rutledge - 6'6" 210lbs - Cranbrook, BC 27yrs old
He came on the scene from the UBC Thunderbird Rowing program in 2002 as a relatively unknown and had a big breakthrough early in the 2002 season placing 3rd at our National Team Pair Trials. This unexpected success earned him a spot in the Eight for the summer. The boat enjoyed success with him in it winning the Royal Henley Regatta and a bronze medal at the Lucerne World Cup Regatta. 2 months of making his first National Team boat.....Ben was a World Champion in Seville at the World Rowing Championships.
I remember him doing his first 2000m ergometer test and beating many of the current National team members. I turned to the coach and said "who is that guy, and where did he come from?" We have been members of the Men's 8 from 2002-2005 & 2007.
Ben is a 2-time World Champion in the Eight and member of the Athens Olympic Eight.
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#3 - Andrew Byrnes - 6'7" 210lbs - Toronto, ONT 24yrs old
Here we have the rookie of the crew. Every team has to have a rookie and this is ours. In 2006 Andrew was poised to make the step from Under 23 to the Sr. Eight for the World Championships when disaster struck and he fractured his rib. He had to take a few weeks off right in the peak of the season and he ended up becoming a spare for the Eight. This turned out to be a bit of a blessing in disguise as the coaching staff decided that the spares would row in a coxed pair and I would be the cox. We ended up winning a Bronze medal and he got his first taste of "big league racing".
Andrew won a Bronze medal in 2005 in the Under-23 Eight, and a Bronze medal in the coxed Pair in 2006 and this is his first season in the Sr. Eight. He is one of the future stars on the team.
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#4 Jake Wetzel - 6'5" 210lbs - Saskatoon, SK 31yrs old
A very unique story behind Jake. He carries dual citizenship and has rowed in the Olympics for both Canada and the USA. He first arrived on the Canadian Team in 1998 after having flourished rowing for the University of California Bears and winning back to back National Championships. Upon his arrival to the Canadian Team he clashed with the coach at that time and just wasn't enjoying life on the team at the time and left to row for USA. (The Americans were doing extremely well at that time internationally and Canada was not.) He won a Gold medal in the coxed four at the 1999 World Championships in St. Catherines, Ontario and then switched to sculling and rowed in the Sydney Olympics placing 5th in the final.
He took some time off to complete his schooling, (degree in finance) and have surgery on both of his shoulders. (non rowing accident) When Rowing Canada secured Mike Spracklen as the head coach, he felt the environment had changed back to something he wanted to be a part of. We of course welcomed him back with open arms! (he is really strong and very competitive!)
In 2003, Jake again became a World Champion, this time in the straight four (no cox) and went on to win a silver medal in Athens, missing the gold medal by 0.07secs. A true heart breaker.
Post Athens he had to have back surgery to repair a herniated disc and now that it has fully healed he is back to chase the gold that eluded him in Athens.
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#5 Malcolm Howard - 6'6" 215lbs - Victoria, BC 24yrs old
A graduate of Harvard University with a degree in biology and is a pre-med student. Malcolm won 3 straight US National University Championships in the Men's 8 and his success hasn't slowed up since joining the Sr. National Team.
Malcolm is an extremely bright individual and has a real penchant for numbers. He is the guy we get to quickly analyze and remember our 500m times, figure out 250m times and also what times the other crews have done. Of course we have turned it into a game and if he gets one wrong, we bug him about it.
His success on the Sr. Team so far has been in the Men's pair finishing 4th in 2005 and winning a bronze medal in 2006 with our bowman Kevin Light. Malcolm is known for his amazing strength on the rowing machine and has been able to translate that into speed on the water as well.
Kevin told me that in the final 500m before they won the bronze medal in 2006, he was just holding on for dear life trying match the power Malcolm was putting on the oar!
He has had a well decorated career winning medals at the Junior, Under 23, and now Senior World Championships.
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#6 Dominic Seiterle - 6'4" 215lbs - Montreal, QC 32yrs old
He is the "old" guy of the crew. Thank goodness he is 6 months older than me!!
Dominic had an extremely interesting summer....similar to me actually. While at the Worlds his wife gave birth to their first child...a healthy baby boy named Max. The type of guy that Dominic is, he was worried that the crew would be wonder about where his focus would be. We said "don't worry about it...we trust you, enjoy the fact that you're a Dad!!"
Although this year is Dom's first real taste of success, he rowed at the 2000 Sydney Olympics in the Mens Double where he placed 13th and then took some time off to pursue some career goals. He made a comeback in 2003 but about 2 months before the final 2004 Olympic crew selections were made he slipped and fell while doing some cross-training and ended up with blood poisoning ending his Athens comeback. He fell off the rowing radar till showing up at the training centre in the fall of 2006 and showed us that he had indeed kept his fitness up and was ready to make another serious fun at the Olympics. Dom is one of the strongest guys on the team and is very fast in his single scull. Our coach convinced him over this past winter that the best boat for him to be in was the Eight and I am extremely glad that he agreed to row in it.
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#7 Adam Kreek - 6'5" 210lbs - London, ONT 27yrs old
After graduating from high school, Adam headed out to Alberta and worked on an oil rig for almost a year to make some money an experience something totally different than he had ever done before. Of course, working this hard taught him many great lessons that he would use in his future rowing career.
After his oil rig career he enrolled at the University of Victoria and joined the rowing team where his success began winning several Canadian University titles and has been a member of the Men's 8 since 2002, only missing 2005 while taking a year off the team.
Rowing has allowed Adam to also pursue scholastic goals. After Athens he and his wife moved down to California where he attended Standford University, captained their rowing team and graduated with a degree in Geological Engineering.
Adam has always been one of the fastest rowers in the country whenever we have trials in pairs and is well respected as a very strong individual with great rhythm which is why he almost always ends up in the 7 seat.
He won a gold medal in 2001 in the Under-23 Eight, gold in 2002, 2003, 2007 in the Men's Eight. As you can see, he knows how to win in an eight.
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#8 Kyle Hamilton - 6'6" 210lbs - Richmond, BC 29yrs old
Here we have the Captain of the heavyweight men's program. Kyle burst on the the National Team in 2002. He was pretty much totally unknown until he and Ben Rutledge placed 3rd in the 2002 National Team Pair Trials. By placing 3rd he got a chance to go on a European tour with the eight and in doing so, quickly solidified himself as a member of the crew. 2 months of making his first National Team boat.....Kyle was a World Champion in Seville at the World Rowing Championships. He continued to be a key member of the success we experienced from 2002-2004 in the eight.
Kyle is a graduate of UBC and is currently on a leave from UBC Law School. (he's no fool!) It didn't take him long to realize that his Olympic dream was not over after our 5th place in Athens. He was one of the first guys back to training in the early fall of 2004. Our coach made him the captain of the Heavyweight Men's Team in 2006 and he has adopted the philosophy that leading by example is the best way to get men to follow you. We all have an immense amount of trust and confidence him.
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As I read over these descriptions I realized that all of these guys are not only very successful on the water but are extremely smart individuals off the water with respect to the educations they have completed or are taking leave from completing.
It is truly an honour to be able to work with each one of these guys on a daily basis. Sometimes I forget the caliber of athletes that I am working with and that these guys really are the best in the country and we proved this year......the best in the world!!!