US Trials Recap #2: Bandits Earn LW4x U.S. National Team Berth

It's official!  The Bellingham Bandits raced this morning to a victory in final #2 of US Trials and secured our spot on the U.S. National Team to race in the lightweight quad in New Zealand.  The wind and rain made it a challenging race and we were happy to get off the water and get warm afterwards!  Since crossing the line at 9 am, we have been running around seemingly nonstop.  We've packed up the boats and oars, gotten drug tested, signed paperwork, returned cars, done laundry, gone to PT appointments, shipped our giant UPS packages, and done everything else that goes along with buttoning things up after a race and getting ready to fly back across the country.

We head back tomorrow and then it's right back to training, planning, and getting ready for our trip to NZ.  Hard to believe competition begins in just 30 days!

Final #1 of US Trials, courtesy of Row2k

Final #1 of US Trials, courtesy of Row2k

US Trials Recap #1

This morning the Bandits raced the lightweight single (Ursula) and the lightweight quad (all four of us).  We had a successful morning despite the yucky rain and wind.  Here are links to the results for the LW1x race and results for the LW4x race.  Row2k also wrote a full recap of the racing.

Since trials follows a best two out of three format, we will race again tomorrow morning.  Both the single and the quad will be duel races.  Here are where results of tomorrow's races will be posted for the LW1x, which begins at 8:20 am eastern time and LW4x, which begins at 9:00 am.  Let's hope the weather cooperates!

Arrival in Princeton

The Bellingham Bandits have arrived in Princeton and spent the day getting ready for racing.  Terrible news of Cas Reker's death came this morning.  He was the inventor of the RowPerfect, a machine that has helped all of us improve during our rowing careers and he will be missed. 

Racing for us starts tomorrow with heats for the lightweight women's single.  Ursula drew Heat 2, Lane 1 and will be racing at 10:10 am eastern time.  Results for the racing can be found HERE through Powerhouse Timing.  The lightweight quad begins racing on Thursday morning.  

Thank you to those who have helped support us so far by providing housing, transportation, help with the boats, or simply by wishing us well.  Onto the racing!

Salmon Row!

This morning after practice, Ursula and I walked to the bridge on Lake Samish to watch the start of the Salmon Row.  This race features all types of self-propelled boats: rowing shells, sea kayaks, racing kayaks, standing paddle boards, canoes, and my personal favorite, the six-person wooden boat with wooden oars.  You can kind of see it in the first picture on the left.  These guys were dressed up in black and white striped shirts and looked like they were straight out of viking boats....or prison.

The starting line was hands down the funniest part.  There was one mass start (not the typical start we're used to in fall racing) so you see hundreds of people clamoring to get ahead, crashing into each other, and just having an all-around good time.  

We were in for a surprise when Kevin Bowman, champion of the Sea Kayak division, donated his Salmon Row prize money to our training center at 931 West Lake Samish Drive. Wow - thank you Kevin!

The warm-up to the starting line

The first rowers arrive at the starting line

Welcoming Fall

It's the first day of fall and all of us certainly felt it when we woke up to 45 degree temperatures.  Though this morning was a little bit of a shock, the cold and fog has given way to bright sunshine as the day has gone on.  These photos were taken from the second morning workout:

After our workouts this morning, all the bedroom doors were quickly closed, which is code for "leave me alone, I'm napping" as we rest up for what's to come this afternoon.  We're feeling excited about trials next week and glad that it is finally upon us.  We'll post an update later this week about how to find results on race day.  Thanks again to all the community members who attended the Meet and Greet - we appreciate your support!

Meet & Greet

Today's meet and greet was a big success and we were so happy to meet our neighbors on the lake. Thank you to everyone who came and got to know us.  I think we might have had the youngest rower on a RP3 yet! And I heard her say : "GO USA!"

We are so fortunate to have a community like this one to be part of.

Thank you so much to wonderful sponsors for incredible donations: Hammer Nutrition >  Water bottles, Gels, Bars, Heed, and Recoverite, and USRowing for all the gear they sent us. WOW to say the least! Then thanks to Paleo Brands for supporting us through Robb Wolf. Also a big shout out to Omega Nutrition who have their plant right here in Bellingham! Lastly, thanks to JL Racing! Our new uni's are so sweet!

For those of you who are new to the blog, be sure to check out the older posts on this website as well as the other blogs we have going from this house:
rowstarproject.blogspot.com - Ursula and Abby's blog for the lightweight double
3medalchallenge.blogspot.com - Carlos' beloved blog. A couple days ago, Carlos announced to us (from his spot at his computer) that he was creating another post for his 3 Medal Challenge blog. Ursula responded with, "Of course you are blogging, Carlos.  That's like telling me I'm breathing!" Needless to say, Carlos is a blogging machine, with lots of interesting tidbits to share.  Check it out!


To donate on line please go to < our firstgiving > website. This donations are tax deductible!

Thank you for your support to get this quad to New Zealand!

September Swimming

One of the best parts of Samish is how clean the water is.  Today, after a couple of rows and a tough erg workout/run, the sun had come out and we decided to jump in the lake.

Kristin & Ursula mid-jump

The initial shock after jumping in

Then we convinced Vic that, despite always being freezing cold, she should jump in too

She stood there for a while while we yelled "it's soooo warm!" (it was definitely not)

She finally made the jump...

...and then got the hell out of there!