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June 11, 2010
ENGLAND - The Saint Joseph's women's rowing team is in the midst of their trip to the Henley Royal Regatta, to take place from June 18-20 in Oxfordshire, England. The Hawks' rowers will be writing about their experience during the two-week stretch and can be found below: June 10 (Brianne Kammerman) Hello all - We are in England!!! After our practice this morning, we checked out the city of Oxford and part of Oxford University's campus. It was brilliant! There were many cool shops and interesting buildings to look at. There were also many photo opportunities! (Photos coming soon!) The British culture isn't all that different from ours, everyone we've run into seems really nice and helpful. Especially when it comes to paying for things, we had no idea what "pence" were! Well now we do, thanks to a kind cashier at a local sandwich shop. Rowing at the Oxford boathouse on the Thames has been awesome. It is much different than rowing on the Schuylkill. We row by about one hundred cows in one practice, all moo-ing loudly, I like to think they're cheering for us. The river is so quiet as well. It is completely silent besides the click of the oarlocks and Clare and Andi's calls. It's quite lovely, and so much different from practicing in Philadelphia. Tomorrow we head to London to ride the famous double-decker bus and do many other things like walk on Abbey Road! (More photo opportunities, for sure!) One more night's sleep, and we'll shake off the jet lag. Speaking of which, it's bed time for us! Thanks for reading, and all your support! Cheerio! - The SJU Girls June 12 (Colleen Greway) Hello again! - On behalf of the girls, I would like to personally thank the US soccer team for ending that game in a tie. As Americans in a place where friendships begin and end with "football," we could not have asked for a better result. We left the pub unscathed, and we even met a few new "chums." We also had our first racing experience on the Thames yesterday. We raced our double, four, and eight in the Reading Regatta. The course was like nothing we've ever seen before. It had winding turns, and a buoy line that looked like it had been put in by an official who had had one too many Pimm's cups. Brianne, Andi and Clare all did a fantastic job navigating down the course, despite its craziness. Although our results did not turn out as well as we would have liked, we were pleased with the way our team handled the circumsta nces. We were racing in boats we weren't used to, against more experienced competition. The regatta gave us an idea of what our competition is going to look like next week, and we definitely have our work cut out for us. We were certainly a "talked about" crew at the event. With our neon green hats, dark tans and white teeth, we stuck out and made our presence known. Also, we are proud to say that both Danielle Brady and Clare Burns were the champions of the regatta's "ergo competition," in their respective divisions. Danielle (Diz) will have her virtual trophy to share with all of us soon. Going into this week, we plan to do plenty more sightseeing. We will be taking trips back to London and Oxford, and we will try to make it to Bath and Stonehenge. Despite all of the excitement off the water, we are maintaining our focus for the race next weekend. As the silver medalists from Dad Vail, we are still hungry for a big win. We will do everything we can to make our training sessions this week great! Thanks for all of your support! Cheerio! -The SJU Girls PS- If you get a chance, be sure to download the British hit, "The club is alive." It's pretty catchy. June 13 (Lauren Rozsits) - Greetings from England! After five days in the UK we are finally starting to adjust to the time change. We are definitely looking sharper on the water which bodes well for next weekend. We have taken full advantage of our opportunity abroad and have completely embraced the tourist agenda. On Friday we took our first trip into London where we began by touring the Towers of London. Our jaws dropped to the floor when we saw the elegant crowns and elaborate gowns worn by the royalty in England, some of which were only worn for a total of three hours!
June 14 (Danielle Brady) - Greetings from across the pond! As I write this blog, everyone is packing and getting ready to leave Wallingford. We will have one more early morning row from the Oxford Fleming Boathouse and then we will be off to Henley! Practice has been going very well and before leaving Wallingford, we wanted to thank the Oxford University Rowing Team. Many thanks to Barb, Chris, Pat Lockley, Oxford Lightweight President Paul and especially Alex Cavell for your hospitality and assistance. Due to the efforts of the Oxford Men's Lightweight Team, we have been and will be rowing with blades that are painted in our SJU colors. The Men's Lightweight Team has also allowed us to row one of their best boats, an Empacher. This is the type of boat we row at home and is the same boat model we are lucky enough to row at Henley. It has been an honor to row out of such a prestigious boathouse and it is safe to say that all of us will remember the time spent in Oxford. Cheerio! The SJU Girls June 15 (Colleen Smith) -
Hello from Henley! We arrived here this morning after a quick last row in Wallingford. We went to get our boat out of the prestigious Leander boathouse and rowed it down the Thames to store it at the Upper Thames Rowing Club's boathouse until our late afternoon row. We are lucky enough to have an empacher to row in for the Henley Women's Regatta- it is very close to the one at home and we are quite comfortable rowing in it. After our late morning row, we settled in to the Aberdeen house, which is absolutely gorgeous. It is situated right on the Thames River and we have a beautiful view of the river from our window. We each have our own very comfortable bed, more than enough food, every amenity we could have asked for, and a very good chef who will be providing us with breakfast and dinner. After we claimed our beds and put our bags away, we ventured out into the town of Henley to get some lunch and do a little exploring. The town is very pretty with plenty of shops and restaurants and the scenery of the river is quite beautiful. In the late afternoon, we went for a row up the Thames past the starting line. Rowing on this river is much different than rowing at home. For one thing, the lanes are designated by permanent wooden markers called `booms.' Another small difference is that during our practices we are graced with the presence of beautiful swans, as opposed to the noisy geese of the Schuylkill. It is such an unbelievable honor to be here, rowing at Henley and we could not have gotten here without all of your love and support. To all of those at home, thank you so much!
Cheerio! The SJU Girls June 16 (Bridget Dempsey) Hi from England - It's been a long day over here. We went for a row this morning then came back to the house for breakfast and showers before heading into London. We ended up splitting ranks as some girls' parents were in town and they got to spend time with them. The rest of us got on one of the red double-decker buses for a tour. Our first stop was...shopping! We headed back to the shops at Oxford and Bond streets. After some great finds we moved on to `London's Times Square'. We saw the lights at Piccadilly Circus before hoping back on the bus. Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, the London Eye and the Tower Bridge all passed by before we made it back to the last stop. A short cab ride and we were back to Paddington Station and in Henley again before dark. Cheerio! - The SJU Girls
June 18 (Katie Herdmann) Hello once more from beautiful Henley! As race day approaches we are working hard to make the finishing touches on our race plan and our practices have demonstrated our improvements. It is clear that we are all extremely excited to race on Sunday and the boat is feeling great! After practice this morning, we had the honor of being joined by Aberdeen's very own Chris Ellyatt and Andrew White and Laura Schenken of WSM. We were all extremely grateful to meet the people who have helped make this trip possible, and they are just as nice in person as their generosity would imply! This evening we were invited, along with the other competing teams, to a good luck reception at the Henley Rowing Museum. It was awesome to be in the presence of some of the earliest and most victorious boats in England. The surroundings definitely helped cement the prestige of this trip! Cheerio! - The SJU Girls June 20 (Christina DiSanto and Christina Regan) For the last time this trip, Hi from England!! We just got back from the race course with results that are hard to swallow. We came off the line dead even with Grand Valley for over 500 meters. They started to walk away a bit and we fought hard the whole way down the course. We crossed the finish line about 2-3 seats behind them. Although the results were disappointing, we came off the water with no regrets and certainly a 'gutsy' row. This trip was AMAZING and a dream come true for all of us. Thanks again to everyone that made this trip possible, and a special thanks our family and friends that we could see and hear the whole way down the course and the ones cheering for us just as much at home. Happy Father's Day to all our Dads!!! See everyone back in the states! The Hawk Will Never Die! Cheerio - The SJU Girls
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