Munich Rowing World Cup May 8-11 2008
13th May 2008, NewsThe first round of the 2008 World Cup took place last weekend. We arrived in Munich having spent a few very windswept, rainy weeks training in Ireland. However, this was after some very useful and fruitful camps and competitions in Italy, Spain and Portugal over the winter and spring.
In short, we arrived in Munich with a good deal of the necessary work under our belts and the main goal for the regatta was to prove to ourselves that we were in the pack, on the pace and near the front.
The competition was very hot. The weather conditions, unfortunately, were not very fair. The Olympic Regatta venue in Munich is prone to cross headwinds, and with one of the biggest grandstands of any venure in the world of rowing, this makes the course unfair, particularly in the last quarter. I have raced in Munich many times and I cant understand why FISA have big events here year after year. First of all, it is boring to keep returning to the same place every year (where is the imagination?) and secondly, Munich can be unfair a lot of the time.
Anyway, after a tough event and a hard weekend of racing, we made the final and emerged from the competition in 5th place. Room to improve for sure. Some teams are going very fast at the moment, it remains to be seen if this can be maintained.
Germany, who also have to qualify for Beijing next month, beat us twice during the weekend and are going well. Serbia finished behind us in both the final and the semi. Greece and Spain contested the B final and were not a million miles away from the A final. The qualification race in Poland will be competitive for sure.
Next, we go back to Munich tomorrow for 2 weeks training before heading to Lucerne for Round 2 of the World Cup. Onwards and upwards.