Tokyo 2020 - Heats

It has been a relief to complete our first run down the track in Tokyo and start the campaign with a comfortable win in our heat.

For me, race day throws additional challenges at me as I need to think more about managing the athletes, running the prep to precision timing and deliver a comprehensive warm up - and that is all before we start racing. A new course always brings new circulation patterns and requires a lot of pre-planning in order to fit our preferred warm up into the space allocated before the race! It sounds simple but it is something I spend a lot of time calculating and planning in advance so that on the day, things happen as smoothly as possible. 

The race itself tested my skills, as we had a very strong crosswind (from bow side to stroke side) and due to the starting system (called buckets), my bows were held in a position about a foot or so to the left of the direction I would have liked! It meant that I had to make some steering adjustments at the start of the race, it wasn’t ideal but once we were in a better position, I was a lot happier.

We took the lead of the pack in the first few hundred metres and raced well down the course - we rowed well, despite the wind and it was a great opportunity to get a feel for the course and the wind as we progressed down the 2km. Our first place finish in the heat gave us a pass straight to the A Final and, for the four of us in the boat who were making our Games debut, we were now officially Paralympians!!