World’s Recap and NZ Adventure
This is me after the medal ceremony. It's always a good time getting on the podium.
It’s been a month and two weeks since our final at Lake Karapiro and a lot has happened. The final was very satisfying to execute. The girls were aggressive and relentless. The power in that 8+ was something that I haven’t felt since the Beijing final. Now is the non-glamorous side to the sport and that is the part where we have to go back into training. It never ends until the Olympic final. This year we got 3 weeks off instead of our traditional two because of Thanksgiving. Many of my teammates took the opportunity to stay in New Zealand and explore.
I chose that option and traveled around with my boyfriend in a camper van for two weeks touring a little bit of the north island but spending most of our time in the south island. There were so many “best parts” of the trip and I cannot count. We did it all: hiking, wine tasting on bikes, ferry riding, white water kayaking, ice climbing on glaciers, mountain biking, and tramping around in the rain and through at least 20 different streams to get to a secluded hut on the Styks river. There were plenty of throw-everything-into-one-pot-and-cook dinners in our camper van that were actually delicious. I do have a theory though that everything tastes better when you are eating it outside.
Now I’m back to training and we just ended a Fantasy Camp that turned into a winter training camp after the campers left at the Chula Vista Olympic Training Center. This winter is going to have us living out of our bags so we can stay on the water as much as possible to get ready for the 2011 World Championships in Bled, Slovenia.
Here are some pictures of my adventures in NZ. I recommend that everyone needs to experience New Zealand in their lifetime. I love that country.
Steer Straight!
Mwhip+
Yaz interviewing Anna Goodale after we arrived on the medals dock
Medals dock with Canada and Romania, silver and bronze medalists
All 9 of us on the outskirts of the trading pit
After the medal ceremony we hop back in our boat, medals and flowers included
Hiking in the Mt. Cooke National Park
My home for two weeks around NZ
Wine Tasting by bike in Renwick
White water kayaking in Murchison...well...after we finished kayaking down the Bull River
After tramping for 6 hours and crossing at least 20 streams. Soggy feet and wet clothes, the hut was amazing to see!
Walking down Fox Glacier after a day of ice climbing
While we were mountain biking in Queenstown we came across a lost sheep. It was so cute but so sad to see it all alone.
Tags: coxing, coxswain, Mary Whipple, New Zealand, racing, rowing, winter training, World Championships
Posted at Tuesday, December 21st, 2010 in: News
Hi Mary, I’ve been of line for a bit getting OPRA back in the water this spring and just noted this at the bottom of the site.. My wife and I did some horse touring in France.i Provence and up into the wine country on the French Italian border…
1. the 2 good things about going from winery to winery on a horse are that:
a. the ground is softer than a road surface even though it may be further to it…depends on the size of the horse, and
b. the horse knows the way to where you are going
(or the stable it came from) in the case of…as Alan Greenfield would say, “..unwarranted enthusiasm.”…bicycles seem to have directional issues in more than one axis if I remember.
We need to talk about coxing schools, particularly one for the PNW…there is a “new” program here “Rowtothefuture.org but overlying it is a desire to build a world class program in Seattle and an Olympic venue for rowing. However, when I try to discuss coxing schools I get either, “We tried that.”
or “we are rowing straight 4′s and quads and pairs.”
If you can get out here I think there is NWRF money to “try again” with a program to train cox’s and coach coaches to become cox trainers …not just dump a person in a boat since the are small send them off, which happened with on of our rowers at a Masters camp last summer…fortunately she had some cox training with me…but they didn’t know that…
Is fall a good time or spring…I need a month or 6 weeks to set a venue up and get support.
Hi Pete,
Horseback riding sounds like a lot more fun than riding bikes! I’ll e-mail you about the coxswain camp, sounds like it’s right up my alley.
Mary, I have been trying to find a good coxing camp for my H.S. (rising Jr.) Coxswain. We are heading to the PNRA camp in Princeton this summer because of their focus on coxing.
I have been in touch with Laura Simon (Jr. Nationals Coach) and we are sending her Kaelyn’s tapes.
Kay had the same introduction / instruction into coxing – “oh look, you’re little and smart – go cox that boat” as the example above. She’s done well, has spent a lot of time studying, reading, going to two of Laura’s clinics and now is probably the best coxswain on the team – but to go to a training / development camp with a focus on coxswains that also offered some competition and racing would be ideal. She’s really had to figure this out on her own – and it has been frustrating at times.
Please let me know if developmental or special coxswain camps like that are available.
Thank you so much.
Catherine