There are no better pieces then the ones we do between the men's 4's and women's 8's. It gets both squads fired up and provides a competitive pressure cooker the equal of any big race. Today, with both squads well rested and ready to rumble, we did full a race warm-up and met up at the top of Ross Island for three piceces off a start, three minutes long with the option of extention to four in the case of especially competitive situations.
The last one was the best; the men's freshman four and women's varsity eight got into a bow-to-bow battle by the middle of the piece and Lincoln, who had the call, extended to four, and then extended to four-and-a-half minutes. Both boats dug very deep to the well and neither gave an inch-- I think we could have kept it going for another minute or two before anyone would have cracked (perhaps for the best, there was an obstacle that led us to stop the piece). One learns a great deal of truth about yourself in the moment you're bow-to-bow and discover you have one extra minute left to row. I think both boats were happy with what they found.
Here's forty seconds of that piece, earlier on. I got too excited to film about halfway through.
Women's Varsity 8 vs. Men's Fours from Sam Taylor on Vimeo.
The last one was the best; the men's freshman four and women's varsity eight got into a bow-to-bow battle by the middle of the piece and Lincoln, who had the call, extended to four, and then extended to four-and-a-half minutes. Both boats dug very deep to the well and neither gave an inch-- I think we could have kept it going for another minute or two before anyone would have cracked (perhaps for the best, there was an obstacle that led us to stop the piece). One learns a great deal of truth about yourself in the moment you're bow-to-bow and discover you have one extra minute left to row. I think both boats were happy with what they found.
Here's forty seconds of that piece, earlier on. I got too excited to film about halfway through.
Women's Varsity 8 vs. Men's Fours from Sam Taylor on Vimeo.
