Before Most Have Breakfast

22 September 2012Joel B

It’s 5:30 AM and an alarm goes off; across the campus rowers slide out of their beds and silently pack their bags in the dark making sure not to awaken their roommates who still have two hours of sleep ahead of them.

Today is a big day; today is the Elk Lake Time Trial for the National Rowing Championships in November. The Brentwood rowing team has been preparing with the little time it has had since school started, sending three singles and one pair to compete.

Like many of our morning practices, we get to experience the rising sun over the horizon, and the red and golden sky, by simply looking out the window as we ride over the Malahat on the way to Victoria.

At 6:30 AM, Mr. Carr, our dedicated coach, pulls the van into the packed parking lot near the Elk Lake rowing facility, one of the best places to row in Canada. The racecourse is 2000 meters and it’s a time trial with 30-second centers starting at 8:00. During the meeting of about 30 rowers this is all discussed and there is pleasant chat as many of the rowers here this morning know each other from being teammates or rivals during their rowing careers.

One by one the boats launch onto the vast mirror of water and distort the reflection of the blue sky as they make their way to the start line.

At 8:00 sharp the first UVic boat tears out of the start ripping at the water for every extra inch of send; 30 seconds later, when the next boat is about to go, the sound of their lungs crying for oxygen is a warning of the pain to come. We all wait our turn and soon all of the boats have finished and are heading back to the docks at the far end of the lake.

As we slide into the dock and bring our boats up to the trailer Mr Carr comes up asking how it went. We de-rig our boats and load them back on the trailer as quickly as we can so that on the way back we have time to stop by Tim Hortons, Nick R’s favorite part of the day, and get a quick snack.

After all of this, once we arrive back at the school it’s off to classes and, after a day of rest and recovery on Sunday, training resumes on Monday. November’s regatta is not so far away.

Joel B