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The Olympic Rowing Team has arrived in Oakland California for its annual winter training camp. We are staying in a place called Alemeda which is right near the Oakland Airport. Several of the rowers in camp went to school down here at the University of California Berkley and so we are boating out of their very new 10 million dollar boathouse!!! Yes....10 million!! It is amazing. It makes our facility at Elk Lake in Victoria look like crap....but then again....it is.
Anyway.....we will be training twice a day here which may not seem like much, but these are 2 hour rows and we will always do at least one long run of 40minutes of hard rowing in eights side by side, no stopping....this is killer stuff. So far, my boat has won both of the rows leaving the other boat in our wake basically alone for about 25mins. Not fun for them. We will continue to row in the eights for the next few days then we will break up and row in 4 fours for a few days.
I can't stress enough how important this training camp is for us as a crew and a team. This is the type of environment when all of our focus is on rowing, we can bond more as a crew on the water and learn what makes us go fast. The physical aspect of this camp will pay off huge in 2 months. Anyone who misses out on this camp or doesn't take full advantage of this situation could find themselves struggling to make a crew come selection time in March/April.
These pictures are of the Cal Bears Boathouse....it is sweet! 
We went down to the lake today to do the second part of our January Testing period to find ice in front of the docks!!!
Unfortunately, ice is one of the things that stops us. The other is fog.
On Monday we did our second major ergometer test of the season and as a whole the guys did amazing! Out of the 20 guys who competed 15 of them had personal bests!!
I think our captain, Kyle Hamilton put it best when he said "that is extremely motivating to see my team-mates perform, it shows that our training program is working, we're on the right track here."
Today we were supposed to do 2 X 2km in the pairs then 2 x 2km in the singles. We then add up all the times, erg+pair+single=overall ranking and top port and starboard rower.
SO, we have put off the testing till tomorrow and hope that it doesn't get too cold tonight and the ice thaws. This afternoon when I went by the lake, the ice all around the docks has melted but I am still optimistic about the rows tomorrow. If it is frozen we will do it on Saturday.
We leave this Monday January 28th for San Francisco for our winter training camp.....apparently not a moment too soon.
I have posted a link to a newspaper article from today.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080118.ROWING18/TPStory/?query=rowing+brian
I also posted it in the blog on the right hand side about half way down.
I'm more than happy to answer any questions or respond to any thoughts that you may have for me. I would really like to get any of your kids involved in this Olympic process if they are interested.
In fact, any "Trow kid" that emails me at the address below, I will send them a signed photo of me and my crew racing from the 2007 World Rowing Championships.
Just get your kid(s) to include their name, home address, favorite Olympic event and why!
I hope to hear from many of you soon!!
briansprice@gmail.com
Brian
The Russian Men's Eight that finished 5th at the 2007 worlds has been disqualified. 3 Rowers from the eight were found to have utilized a method prohibited under the World Anti-Doping Code.
They were found to have illegally used intravenous infusion equipment. They were putting various legal substances into their bodies using an illegal method.
These aren't the first Russians to be DQ'd in the past year. The 2006 gold medal Womens Quad got striped of their medals for the same thing and the lightweight men's double and members of the womens eight also got DQ'd this year.
Clearly there is a problem over there and although they aren't actually "doping" they are using a method that will enhance recovery and is illegal. I 100% support this ruling from our international federation as I want the playing field in 8 months to be fair and without drugs or any illegal methods or putting things into your body.
Due to this ruling, the Australian Men's Eight has now qualified for the 2008 Olympics! I'm sure they are enjoying a few pints down there at the moment. The Russians can still qualify as only 3 of the 8 men have been suspended for 2 years. The Russians will need to bring up 3 men and go to the qualifier in mid-June and win it. Only 1 qualifying spot is available in this event for a total of 8 Men's Eights at the start line in Beijing.
I have included a link to the actual news release for those interested.
http://worldrowing.com/display/modules/news/dspNews.php?newid=324305
Unfortunately while having a heavy battle last week at Shawnigan Lake in the eights, our Under-23 coxswain steered the winning 2003 shell over a stump that was hidden just under the water and it took a huge gouge out of the boat!! It tore a strip about 1cm wide and about 2.5 metre's long right down the middle of the boat.
It started to take on water and within 2 mins the stern was almost under water. Our coach took his boat over and removed 4 guys from the crew and the other 4 moved to the front of the boat and rowed it home to the boathouse. Luckily we were only about 1km away.
To make matters worse, as they were coming into the dock the cox was not using his brain and was coming in too fast.....couple that with a boat full of water which is sitting low in the water......next thing you know the bow rigger hits the dock and it gets torn clean off the boat!!
So now we have a shell with huge tear in it and a rigger that has been smashed in two!!
Thankfully we have a good boatman in Victoria and he said that he can fix it by removing the damaged area and put new carbon fibre on the shell. We'll have to order a new rigger though to the tune of $500!!
Anyway....he should have known better as we have been up and down that lake hundreds of times and we both know the stumps are there, guess he just forgot. It was a little reminder to me though....take stock of where the steel buoys are and always know where you are steering.
I haven't hit anything for 8 years! (knock on wood)
8 years ago while I was filling in as the cox of the 2000 Olympic training camp boat I hit a big plastic buoy at Elk Lake. There was no damage, other than to my ego!! Unfortunately I had been having a great row, but when you make a big mistake like that.....all they remember is your mistake.
Happy New Year to everyone!!! I am back in Victoria after spending 8 days over Christmas with family in Belleville, Ontario. My wife and I had a great time at home and Brianna enjoyed opening gifts on her first Christmas!
Well.....The men's team got its Christmas present the other day as the boat that we won the 2007 world championships with arrived at the boathouse!! We rigged it up right away and took the winning shell out for a row. It was really good to get back into a shell that was so stiff and responsive. Right now we have 2 eights.....one is the winning boat from 2003 and the other is the 2004 Olympic training boat. Since they are a 3-4 yrs old the actual shell gets a little bit weak after all the beatings eight 200lb men can put into the riggers on the sides.
To add to the excitement of rigging it up and taking it for a row, the local TV station was there to talk to us and film our row for the evening sports that night. This type of coverage will start to happen as we draw closer and closer to the Olympics and the hype gets bigger.
Click on the play button below to view the broadcast
