Ok, firstly before I start dissecting today let me just say that I'm pretty happy with being second in the world, we got to race against a very talented combination and I think we did manage to push them home hard. That said I can't help but wish and wonder about the "what if's". I'm happy to assume that this is a perfectly natural reaction and carry on to give you kind folk a bit of an insight into what went down, but just keep in the above in mind if it seems to get to negative. Also note that it is nearly midnight here on finals day so I haven't had a heap of time to digest everything.

 

Well the last 48 hours have been very nerve racking. We got a sniff of a chance after the results from the semifinals and with only a couple of short paddles the day before and an afternoon final today we had plenty of time to stew on the challenge that was before us. I'm not entirely sure how George filled his time, though at one point he did show me a drawing he had made of the course complete with compass and possible wind directions for finals day.

 

To pass some of the time, I actually read Matthew Pinsent's book, now I wasn't sure that was a good idea or not, ie. filling my head with somebody elses ideas on racing, but it was a pretty good read and had some excellent descriptions of pairs racing. I figured I would be able to take the good points out of it I could use without disrupting my own views and apart from not winning today, I think managed it.

 

It's quite impressive how long you can keep feeling nervous, I swear from about 10am on Friday till the moment the gun went this afternoon, every waking moment was spent feeling like I would be ready to 'fight or flee' in a split second. I don't mind so much being nervous, apart from the occasional crazy self-talk and the many trips to the bathroom, it's a pretty good sign I'm ready to go. And by the time we lined up in the blocks I was fair itching to get into it.

 

The day had turned on a tail wind similar to semifinals, we were both pretty happy with this, it meant a fast race and hopefully us handling the conditions better than some others. Knowing that the Auzzies in particular would try and establish a lead early and then use the efficiency of the their stroke to hold off challengers, the plan was to go out as fast as possible in the first quarter of the race and keep the pressure on whoever managed to lead out or even better take the lead for ourselves.

 

Unfortunately even though it felt like we were going hammer and tongs, the Auzzies still managed to get out to pretty massive lead in the first 500 metres and they and the Chinese both had a couple of seconds on us. China I was pretty sure we could peg back, but I knew we were in for trouble with the Auzzies. Through the middle of the race we seemed to come back a little at China but the Germans in one of the outside lanes was coming up even faster and pushed through both us and China and still we made no headway on the Australian lead.

 

Things start to get a little blurry from this point, from around 700 metres to go we basically took the rate up to 40 strokes per minute (spm) and started to peg back the deficits on everyone. We got through China and then Germany by about 400 I think and I remember thinking at one point we wouldn't be able to reel in the Auzzies, fortunately almost as soon as that went through my head, George went nuts and we started to seriously eat into the Auzzie lead. The stroke coach was reading 45spm with 250 metres to go and we kept that pace up and probably even a little bit more to go from nearly two lengths down to just under half a boat length at the finish line.

 

Australia did 6:18 we did 6:19.1 and Canada on the far side snuck past both China and Germany to take 3rd. The Germans were so shattered they ended up in the drink. My tank was pretty damned empty as well, it was almost humerous afterwards the concern of the doctors as I wobbled my way on the ramp to dry land.

 

We certainly have had a few knock backs this year and not all of the high goals we aimed for have come to fruition. Well expect maybe for Mahe, a stallionic effort if ever there was one, gold in the single again and a world record to boot. Watching him bounce around the Eton course like kid on sherbert was good to see. Duncan Grant in the lighweight single has come through a long cold winter and a tough battle even to be selected so mad props for his bronze. I know Nicky and Julz were pleased to have pushed themselves back up into best in the world after a tough season of results. Probably hardest hit were Georgie and K, they are such legends but I know they always feel massive expectation to perform, mostly from themsleves, and I just hope they don't get dissected too much by the rowing community and the media. The four were incredibly hard done by in missing the A final in the re-row. They deserved to be there and would have competed well, I really hope the re-row rule gets re-written to ensure this debacle is avoided in future.

 

All in all today was a pretty good day, yet again, to be a New Zealander. Five medals from five finals ,the best ever, and still one more A final to go. Sure we all wish they could have been golds, but this is sport after all, the uncertainty of outcomes is what makes it so special. It makes wins tase sweeter, defeats more bitter, and above all it is an incredibly emotional and challenging experience. Being part of days like today don't come often and don't last forever, so I for one am going to saviour every last moment... Now wheres the beer tent...?

 

Kakete All, thanks for all your support and fast thoughts over the last 3 months. I will post photos from Worlds just as soon as I get my hands on them.

 

Twaddle on Tour (but only for one more week)