1999 US Invitational Championships

This was my first trip to the US Invitational Championships, for that matters, any Nationals.  From my perspective, it was different from all other regattas that I have attended.  The key difference was the overall quality of rowing.  All contestants had attained the level of proficiency either as an individual or as a team, earning the right to be invited to the competition.  Some were lucky to be there, but for the most part, all who participated were there because of hard work, dedication, and focus in the preceding months.  As with any field of competitors, there were those who where happy to just attend and participate and those who were legitimate contenders for the national title.  My impression was that there were far more contenders.

I also realized that the winners weren't necessarily the teams with the best erg scores or rowed the longest together or even the biggest rowers or had the best equipment.  They were probably the ones that were best prepared on that day, at that site, at that time, against that field.

Green Lake sent 5 boats to Cincinnati after qualifying for 9 out of 12 races at Jr Regionals.  A total of 27 athletes made the trip to Cincinnati.  There were 10 boys and 17 girls, 4 coaches, and 3 chaparones.  The races that Green Lake participated in were:

• Mens open 8+
• Womens lt 8+
• Mens double
• Womens 4+
• Womens Quad

Of the entries, the mens open 8+ and the womens light 8+ had trained together all season for this one moment in time.  They had demonstrated throughout the season that they were serious contenders for the national title.  Both boats had the the best combination of athletes that Green Lake could offer.  It's not to say that they were the best Green Lake athletes, but the best combination of athletes in terms of focus, ability, boat cohesion, experience and leadership. 

I'm proud to have had the opportunity to witness the men's open 8+'s resolve to return for a second workout the day before the race to work on the last 500 meter sprints.  I'm proud to have witness the drama of one of our lightweight girls gaining 5 lbs overnight and not immediately making weight.  I'm equally proud to have had the opportunity to share in the agonies, such as the men's double, the women's 4+ and quad. Each failed to win their initial heats, but came back that very afternoon in 90 degree temperature to not only advance to their final race, but to win the repechage heat decisively.

Viewing Videos:

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Results:

• The mens 8+ finished second to Cincinnati with a time of 5:55, 8 seconds faster than their qualifying time the day before.  View the last 15 seconds of the mens race.
• The womens Lt 8+ came in second to ORU.  View the last 15 seconds of the womens race.
• Mens double came in 6th.
• Womens quad and 4+ came in 5th.

Location

• East Fork State Park E of Cincinnati
• Site is actually a reservior.
• 2000 m course going west to east with the last 500 meters of lane one (closest to shore) around 20 ft from shore.
• Weather was hot, Sunday was the hottest, 94 and high humidity.  - oppressive

Activities

• Arrive Wed night late, stayed at Hampton Inn - 45 minutes from race course.  Farther than in previous years because could not secure enough rooms closer. Green Lake had one of largest contingent of competitors for NW. 
• Thurs started out with morining practice to get use to course.  Crews went out for light workouts
• Returned to hotel by noon and rested kids until 4 pm before going to Kings Island.  Purpose was to keep kids out of opressive midafternoon heat.
• Friday morning was essentially the same routine.  The open weight men elected to return for a early evening workout.  They felt that wanted to work on their last 500 m sprint.  Here they are on the dock.
• Team diner was at Olive Garden.  The Olive Graden was not equiped to service such a large group in a timely manner resulting in lots of hungry grouchy adults!

Nationals Race Format:

• Heats are in the morning, winner of each heat goes directly to final on sunday (same time of day).  Rest of contestants go to a repechage heat where two advance to finals for each race.  Those not qualifying goes to the petite final, also on sunday.
• Typical strategy for qualifying heats is to go out and race it for 1000 meters, if you  have the lead, fight for it, if not conserve energy and advance to the repechage heat.
• On Sunday, the petite races are held immediately before the finalss race.  Medals are awarded for third, second and first place shortly after each race.

Sat: Qualifying heats

• First race of the day was the mens double.  The failed to win the heat and automatically advanced to the repechage.
• Our second race was the womens light weight 8+ (with coxswain).  Unlike all the other races, this was a seeding race because only 5 boats were entered.  Position of the finish determined what lane they would race in.  Lane assignments go from the center out.  Green Lake won the heat and was assigned lane 3.   ORU came in second and was assigned lane 4.  The girls returned to the hotel, ate and rested the remainder of the day. We also took some footage of them leaving the dock in for this heat. leaving dock and on water.
• The third Green Lake race was the womens 4+ heat.  They advanced to repechage.  We also took some footage of them leaving the dock.
• The fourth Gtreen Lake race was the mens 8+.  They won the heat, advanced directly to the final on Sunday.  The men left the lake, returned to the hotel rested, ate and went to see a movie to stay out of the heat. I guess we also had footage of them coming and going.
• The fifth race was the womens quad (two oars per rower).  They advanced to the repecharge races later in the afternoon. Some additional footage of them leaving dock.
• All Green Lake rowers won their repecharge heats, advancing to their finals.  All rower who made the trip to Cincinnati advanced to the finals!
• Karen Etsell and Lauren Estevenin both rowed 8000 meters on Saturday in opressive heat to advance to the womens 4+ and womens quad finals.

Sunday: 94 degrees in the shadewith high humidity.

• Mens 2x Final
• Womens Lt 8+ Final and some footage of them returning to the dock.
• Womens 4+ Final
• Mens 8+ Final
• Womens 4x Final