Pacific Coast Rowing Championships

This weekend we took an eight to Sacramento to race in Open Heavyweight Eight category.
Nick D'Antony, David Krueger, Val Stepanchuk, Patrick Israel, Benton Spark, Will ., Evan Wilson, Jeff Collet and Kate Mead (coxwain).
Race time 1.20pm Saturday
Location: Sacramento State Aqautic Center, LAKE NATOMA

we raced...

USC, SacState, +3 sac capital crews jrs.

times: 6.18,3 6.22

A great race by the French pair at the 2000 Olympics

You probably wonder why I have a streak of youtube video posting at the moment. A couple of days ago I used key words "olympic rowing" in google's video search engine and was DELIGHTED to see that the library of video footage has nicely grown. I picked this footage of the men's pair at the 2000 Olympics because their attack in the second half of the final was just incredible. When that was happening I was sitting in my boat on the race course waiting for the men's single scull medal ceremony. Watch this race it is great.
All the best, and I hope that you all are having a great weekend.
PS: By the way I am not loading video directly onto this site because Bryan from norther California told me that not everyone had high speed internet. I salute you Bryan. I hope you will enjoy the footage from the youtube site directly.
WATCH THE RACE CLICK ON THIS LINE

XENO

Xeno Muller, Olympic gold and silver medalist, indoor rowing, rowing technique.

Good rowing technique from the French Olympic gold medalists

Here is the video on youtube.com

They rowed great for the Olympics in the men's double scull. When I look at their rowing in the single scull I see some discrepancies which the two rowers refine when they row together.

These two French rowers are a lot smaller then their competitors. If you don't speak French there are a couple huge pieces of information for successful rowing performance.

Strength training leading into the last weeks before peaking for the Olympics.
Relaxation and compressing the legs at the catch even if this requires to row slightly more upright.
Enormous amount of endurance training during winter. When they reduced the volume during the world cup season they noticed that they were losing some ability to keep their race speed up. In anticipation of the Olympics they reduced speed work, got back into strength training phase. Once they became "fit" again they rowed into the final stages of speed work.
The French did a beautiful job.

Over and out.

Xeno Muller, Olympic gold and silver medalist, indoor rowing, rowing technique.

My friend Richard Lund has a story in our Newspaper

Cares pushed aside
Crew keeps a family illness off a student's mind and turns him into a champion.
By KEVIN METZ
The Orange County Register

The early-morning sun beats down on his shoulders. They aren't as defined or broad as others in his boat, but Richard Lund's teammates still listen to him.

Eight oars move and push the water, making the 80-foot Empacher glide with refined grace down the Newport Marina. His periodic words of encouragement break the silence but not the rhythm.

Lund knows his Orange Coast College teammates are behind him. Every time his team races, his mind stops racing for six minutes, 2,000 meters.

"It has been very therapeutic for me so that I don't go insane," he said. "This is my distraction."

Take another stroke. One more stroke. When his body reaches exhaustion, Lund gathers his thoughts. He doesn't want them wandering.

"When I get tired, I become a horse without blinders," Lund said. "Then I get this tunnel vision. That gives me that much more focus, that much more drive."

Each backward stroke is another step forward in the sophomore's life. He says rowing helped him turn his life around. It helps him cope and helps simplify even the toughest of situations.

"It started as breast cancer, and now it has spread to her brain," said Lund back on the dock, his voice wavering slightly for the first time.

"My mother is slowly losing her battle. It is really hard."

REFUSING TO QUIT

Lund's father concedes his 21-year-old son was no athletic prodigy growing up. Teammates kid that he looked more like a coxswain – the lightweight conductor in back of the boat – than a rower.

Even Lund had his early doubts about joining one of the most competitive rowing programs in the country.

"I thought what am I doing here?" Lund said. "These are wrestlers, cross country runners and football players."

Lund was a golfer. Hitting the books was his distraction in high school, but he said hitting the links was his outlet. It got him out of the house he shared in North Carolina with his mother, Phyllis.

"I was sheltered except for golf, which took a little bit of the stress out but not enough," Lund said. "Unfortunately, when you hit a bad shot in golf it makes you even more stressed."

He, like many novice Orange Coast rowers, picked up an oar for the first time on the first day of practice. But without natural athletic ability or a refined technique, Lund found himself off the competing roster.

"Most athletes would have probably quit in a situation like that," said team rigger Robbie Dalrymple. "Not him. He kept coming to practice and working his butt off."

Lund said few people knew him the year he redshirted. They didn't know his story, or even know his name.

FROM ONE CHAMPION TO ANOTHER

To improve his rowing skills, Lund signed up with Xeno Muller, who has won gold and silver Olympic medals. Meeting Muller for the first time was a lot like the first day of practice.

"Very nerve-racking," Lund said. "At first I was shy. I didn't know how to approach him because of the status."

Muller met a kid with enthusiasm and a desire to learn – two things the owner of the Iron Oarsman fitness studio in Newport Beach saw instantly.

"He knows how to listen to coaching," Muller said. "When I would take him out on the single scull, I would mention a couple of technical points and he would correct his stroke very quickly."

Under Muller's guidance, Lund earned a seat on Orange Coast's 2nd Novice 8 boat. That improbable crew of first-year rowers – from the only competing two-year school in the country – became national champions.

"If you suit up and show up, you will succeed," said coach Larry Moore, who watched his team win the ECAC National Rowing Championships by a boat length in 2006. "Richard certainly has succeeded. He has gotten everything out of rowing that Coast has to offer."

Lund smiles when he remembers that championship – the highlight of his career. That smile grows as he recalls his recent promotion into the varsity boat after winning a seat race.

"He may not be the most athletic guy on the team, but his spirit makes him a better athlete," Muller said. "He became an identity within the team."

MOVING APART

While Lund finds his identity, he acknowledges his mother is slowly losing hers in a North Carolina rest home. They haven't spoken much since he moved back to California to live with his father.

"She is weak from all of the medication she is on," he said. "It is hard to maintain a conversation with her."

So memories fill the void left by unspoken words. Lund remembers how she encouraged him to read at a young age – so much so that he set a record in his elementary school for reading 356 books in a year.

He remembers packing up his life and the family dogs in two cars for the cross-country trip to North Carolina. Lund said that decision, at age 14, was one of the toughest he has ever made.

"I didn't talk to my dad or my stepmom for nearly a year after that," Lund said.

He remembers his mother telling him about the lump on her breast but neglecting to see a doctor. He also remembers the note he found on the coffee table one day left by a neighbor. It said that his mother had been rushed to the hospital with breathing difficulties.

A BRAVE NEW LUND

Lund said his older half brother, Michael, lives about five hours from their 60-year-old mother.

"It really helps that he is there for her," Lund said. "It puts a lot of pressure on me when I go out to see her. It is emotionally taxing."

That pressure returned two weeks ago when Lund visited Phyllis. He had to go through his old home and designate what would go to charity, what he would keep and what would go to his brother. Seeing his mother in her current state was much harder.

So he keeps rowing. He focuses on the things he can control: preparing his mind for the next race, his body for that next 2,000 meters.

"I love its beauty, its rhythm, its dynamic," Lund said. "It is one of those repetitive motions that I don't mind doing. Now it's like I am playing golf on water."

A business major, Lund said he has entered a new, happier chapter in his life. Rowing is a big part of it, he said.

"He has gone so far to creating his own person," said Lund's stepmother, Elizabeth. "He has really overcome a lot of the obstacles he has had to face at such a young age."

Teammates now know his name, but rarely use it. "Squad leader," they say – a tribute to a young man's perseverance and leadership.

Xeno Muller, Olympic gold and silver medalist, indoor rowing, rowing technique.

Hugh Laurie knows rowing!

As usual I googled rowing videos for new information and marketing.

Guess who rows! Hugh Laurie, the actor who plays house. Ok, folks, we need to tell him to come down to the Iron Oarsman to row with us! I am sure he would enjoy a great 45' workout.
Here is a website that has his bio and a link to his Oxford/Cambridge race
I heard that he misses his family who lives in England. It must be hard. So if someone knows Hugh we would get a kick at having him row with us.

On another note: Remember, the world ranking has started over again since May 1st!

That is it for now, OVER AND OUT!

Xeno Muller, Olympic gold and silver medalist, indoor rowing, rowing technique.