Final Round up of Bulgaria

Photo from USRowing

We arrived at Sophia airport in Bulgaria about 10 days before racing. This is common for countries outside of Europe, to arrive much earlier, for the adjustment to the eight-plus hours times difference. In fact New Zealand was already there. A very hot Plovdiv, Bulgaria welcomed us. The heat would continue for a few days. Then just as racing commenced temps cooled down to perfect racing conditions.

The first race started on 15 August with four heats. We had the most entries for the Lightweight women's single ever! Only one entry away from going to quarters and that would make history. This is a non-olympic event and this is why it is not usually that well supported. This event is used as a stepping stone to prove speed for the Lightweight Double that is your olympic event. And further more, for USA athletes, if you are in the LW double, you are funded. But because of the Olympics, many girls who didn't make that elusive double came to end their season by racing the single, or even as a special mention, girls who came from the Olympics raced again in the Lightweight single. So it was a packed field.

The heats were meant to be at 6:40pm. I was making provision for rowing so late, since that was an usual time. But the night before, the draw came out and racing time was now 4:30pm. The progression from the heats was tight. Only the winner to semi, the rest to reps (also known as last chance racing to stay in the game). Now I'm not particularly well versed in reps. But when I saw my line up in the heats, I guess I knew I was thrown in the deep end and it was time to sprint. There would be no easing into it.  In Heat 1, you had ALG's Amina Rouba who I meant at the Holland Beker, BRA's Fabiana Beltrame who won the 2011 World Champs, DEN Rikke Quist who's brother performed an amazing win in the LM2x, and GBR's Kat Twyman who comes from the British Lightweight doubles matrix camps.

Heat 2 had AUT's Michaela Taupe-Traer who had been winning two the the World Cups this year, NZL's Lucy Strack who was in the New Zealand double that raced me and Abby out of the LW2x final in the 2010 World Champs, and FRA's Elise Maurin, who I also met in a few races.

Photo from World Rowing

Heat 3 I was in, but so was AUS's Alice McNamara, GRE's Alexandra Tsiavou who was coming from a bronze medal in the Olympics, BLR's Alena Kryvasheyenka who won the U23 LW1x and IRL's Claire Lambe who raced in Brandenburg.

Rowing with SA junior guy

John and the NED coaches

Heat 4 had my training partner from NED, Marie-Anne Franken, and SUI's Pamela Weisshaupt who came 3rd in last years World Champs and also won World cup 3 this year.

So the country countdown begins, Attention.... waiting for the red light to turn green, confirmed by the sound of that distinct buzzer, and we are off. Down the buoyed lane course, setting postion, fighting that first 250m. I was excited to get a feel for the speed. I had an outside lane, so had the advantage of racing on my own focus, but also had to check in to see where my position was. Yip, Greece was gone. I knew going into the last 250m she would win this heat, but it started becoming a tight finish for me and Alena from Belarus. She took the second on me to come in second. It would be DEN, AUT, GRE and CHN to go straight to semi's and the rest of us met the next day for the reps.

Four reps, starting at 4pm. I was in rep two, with NZL and NED and GBR. This time top two to semi. Every race was really a tight fight to make it through to the next round. Usually you can have some confidence in the first steps, or even the rep. But here, before me was another hard race. Off the line we went, and I was working my rhythm. Stroke for stroke, going through my learned processes. At the 1500m mark, I started to confirm positions. I saw that Lucy from NZL was in the lead. But on my right I was fighting with Marie-Anne. We were both fighting for this semi-final spot with all we had. We trained together. Our coaches knew each other. We knew each other's strengths and we also knew the weaknesses. "Go Ursula Go", I chanted. The red buoys of the last 250m came in sight. I heard the finishing buzzer, and I looked over. I had crossed in second. We had the fastest rep time by more than five seconds. Also going through to the semi finals were ITA, AUS, BLR, SUI, BRA and IRL.

Nienke getting ready for Marie-Anne's race

In less than 12 hours recovery, I was lined up again, in lane 2, making my way to the top middle lane, waiting for the country count and start sequence. I was in semi-final two. I don't remember a lot from this race. Like one of those moments where things take care of themselves, because you have prepared so well it just happening. I remember the last few strokes, and feeling the squeeze from two boats, AUT and BLR. I felt good power and pushed that in my strokes. We crossed the finish with a close series of beeps. I thought I was third. The scoreboard showed first. Wow! By just 10th of split second. USRowing reporter Ed Moran interviewed me right after: In the lightweight women’s single, Ursula Grobler (Pretoria, South Africa) raced to a first place finish and the top level final, finishing in 7:49.85, ahead of Michaela Taupe-Traer of Austria, who finished in 7:49.92 and Alena Kryvasheyenka of Belarus who finished in 7:50.25. “This semi was just about going to the last stroke,” said Grobler. “It was a solid race but I just won it by that last stroke,” she said. “I have so much support from my parents in South Africa, my rowing followers in the USA and the Dutch team whom I have been training with. It was them going with me to that last stroke. It has been a long year and I can't reach out enough to this support in heartfelt gratitude.” 

Marie-Anne and Kat from GB

Cyrillic writing

Meeting me in the final would be GRE, DEN, NZL, AUT and BLR. That meant that going to the B-final was Pam from SUI, and Fabiana from BRA. Both were finalists with me in last year's world champs. I would be the only repeat performer from last year's World Champ to the final. WorldRowing also did a nice article about the change in Lightweight women here >

Saturday was a day of rest, or rather recovery work to prepare for Sunday's final. The usual sweat-run routine, and great paleo-nutrition got me ready as I lined up in lane 3, at 10:20am for my Final A in the LW1x. The light went green and off we go, in our lane, racing to the fastest end of the 2000m. Alexandra was next to me and she is so fast at the start. DEN was on my other side. We worked through the race, first 500m, and I was down. I needed to get to work to gain ground. I started moving up on the field. I heard the support cheering. Next the 1000m, and I was there pushing. We went under the overhang bridge which made a strong landmark divider on the course. We held positions, I was somewhere in the second and third crowd. BLR and AUT were next to each other, and next to them GRE, and then me. Into the last stokes, and I crossed in 4th. Damn. Wooden medal again. It was a repeat position from last year. But the times were much faster. In flat conditions, not even a helping tail wind, GRE was only 4 sec 22 thousands away from the World Record. The record is 7:28.15 done in 1994, Paris by Romania's Constanţa Burcică who would race in the great Romanian eight later on in her career. By comparison, the Lightweight Men who raced right after us, were 9 sec 48 thousands off the record. Fellow USRower Andrew Campbell took a bronze in the LM1x.

More photos on the flickr

Media links

USRowing - crews advancing to finals

WorldRowing - Semi Final report

USRowing - the next big stage

SportsGraphics - racing pictures

Bulgaria shaping up

There is a little story behind the Plovdiv rowing course. Until 1988 it was only a 1000m long. But when in 1989, Plovdiv won the bid to host the World Canoeing Champs, the rebuild was approved to include the rowing distance of 2000m as well. It was redesigned by architect and former Olympian in the women's double's scull Svetla Otzetova. She approached the integration of the rebuild in a Frank Lloyd Wright way, that is, integration with nature to be the key concept.

The first characteristic is the water level is only only 20cm above the road. This according to Otzetova creates very fair conditions. Lanes have never been re-seeded as we saw on day 7 of the rowing in Eton where the top lanes were seeded from left to right instead of middle to outside lanes. This also means for the spectators, they are more fused with the rowers as the the first row is only 12cm from the first lane. The second integration is that the facilities are all under the boathouse. This was the best way to not disturb the natural aesthetics of the grounds. Finally the weed problem that Plovdiv has too, as well as seen in Beijing (video of Mahe asking divers to remove weeds from his boat) and in Eton, a symbiosis relationship of fish that eat the weeds was created, and rowers can see these big fish in the water.
Read the full interview with World Rowing and Otzetova here

Watch this video of biking along the course.

More photos here and maps here.

USRowing has provided supporting documentation for rowers and spectators here.

Olympic Creed

The Olympic Motto:
Citius, Altius, Fortius (faster, higher, stronger)

The Olympic Creed reads: 
"The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well." 

The Best and Worst Countries in the Medal Count

Fun-drai(n)sing for BU:LGARI'A

I have been fundraising now, for what feels like a long time. It has turned into quite a draining feat, so this year I decided to offer creative solutions for the donations with some cool projects I have been working on, and would like to expand on later on. Click HERE for the actual buying (I mean donation) page. And once again, thank you so much for your support and your following my journey. It really means the difference.

Click HERE for the actual buying (I mean donation) page. 

Sean Wolf asked me some question >

Click here to listen to the show.

And the Fundraising begins

So you achieve this victory. You win trials and now you get to represent your country at an International regatta. You train day in and out, sacrificing time needed for proper earnings, only to be given a letter saying you will completely fund this trip and book your own tickets to Europe and back. Oh and your equipment, you too need to take care of that on your own. Unlike a pair of running shoes, a boat and oars and trailering to the regatta venue is not an easy feat. A boat is like a bike. Its specific, technical and detailed. You can't just go ahead and use anything. Although sometimes in desperation it comes to that. And although I believe you won't win because of equipment, you also won't win because of equipment either.

In the July 2012 University of Washington Rowing Stewards Newsletter, Men's head coach Michael Callahan says as the very first point that without the donors, the opportunity to sweep the IRA's wouldn't exist. Second he says, the guys can then just be who they are. A nice pledge form follows the newsletter oh course.

If Washington can do it, why can't we do it at the Olympic level. Written in the times, the new uniforms for the athletes has raised voices.

... Put up or shut up.
Until the U.S. government starts providing funds for Olympic athletes, as every other government in the world does, Congress has no truck telling the U.S. Olympic Committee where to get its uniforms or where they should be made....

I can only end this observation by again saying thank you to host family's
-Tom and Peggy in Princeton,
-Ian and Gill in San Diego,
-Larry and Jill in Seattle,
-Frans and Ineke in Amsterdam
-Robbrecht also in Amsterdam
who have allowed me to stay in their home, most times taken over their fridge with crazy green leafy combinations.
Then to all the company supports like Hudson, C2, JLRacing, all these companies on the Chosen One list. Help from Lake Union Crew where I train from, and other fun things like Oakley glasses and Nike Athlete Rep clothing.
My food and supplement help, from Hammer Nutrition, Now Brand, Living Tree Community, Omega Nutrition, Sports and testing help, from Restwise, Joel Jamison, Ka-Yu Law from Altitude-Tech, Juerg and Graham from Fact Canada/Innovative Fitness and my beloved PT  Karen Calara, as in the The Next Step PT. Finally my nutrition mentor Amy Kubal, who has so much spirit! To name but a few.


I was asked by a Netherlands rower, you have so many sponsors. I laughed and said yes, without them I couldn't row because my federation isn't paying for anything either. I have had to become very creative to keep supporting myself to make this sustainable.

------

Coach's Note by Michael Callahan

A lot of people have asked me, "How did you do it? What's the key to Washington's success?" The short answer is simple: the student-athletes and the people who support them. "Supporters" include donors, alumni, friends, parents, academic advisors, and athletic department staff. Saying "we did not do this alone" does not capture what happened. WE the athletes, coaches, and supporters all did it together. One does not succeed without the other. Generous donors and alumni allow us to row in the best boats, attract the top recruits, and provide financial aid so every student can have the opportunity to become a Washington oarsman.

The evening before the IRA final I told the varsity that they didn't have to be someone they weren't in order to win. After they won, superlatives like "perfect" and "best ever" began to swirl. But they were just being themselves, doing exactly what they had practiced over and over again in the Montlake Cut.

A win at Trials means I'm qualified for the World Champs in Bulgaria

USRowing Press Release >

... returning to the world stage in the lightweight women’s single is Ursula Grobler, Lake Union Crew (Pretoria, South Africa) who defeated Katherine Robinson, Pocock Rowing Center (Everett, Wash.). Grobler won with a time of 7:50.877. Robinson was second in 8:03.753.

Grobler finished fourth in the event last summer at the world championships in Bled, Slovenia and had attempted a bid for the Olympics in the lightweight women’s double. When that did not happen, she refocused her efforts in the single.

“It’s been a tough year,” said Grobler. “I just had to refocus and a world champion medal is still a great victory. It’s not the Olympics, but it is still an achievement and I want to keep going.”

Non-Olympic Trials 2012 - To race in Plovdiv, Bulgaria

This year's Trials has a twist of young blood among us. With the juniors racing as well, cars are showing up with painted windows saying 'Bulgaria or Bust'. That's so junior like : ) but the spirit is fun.


Its hot here in Princeton as only it can be. Last night thunderstorms brought tree branches down on the light posts and wiring was everywhere. Streets closed, and branches coat the tar.


I start racing the heats tomorrow, as the schedule below shows:



Monday, July 9, 2012
9:00am    LW1X Heat #1    #1 to final A; Rest to Repechage
9:10am    LW1X Heat #2    #1 to final A; Rest to Repechage



Wednesday, July 11, 2012
8:00am    LW1X Final A    


"In the lightweight women’s event seven scullers, including Ursula Grobler (Pretoria, South Africa) andKatherine Robinson (Everett, Wash.), will attempt to win the event along with 
Meghan Sarbanis (Hampstead, N.H.). Sarbanis finished fourth in the 2009 World Rowing Championships while Grobler finished fourth in 2011. Robinson recently won the 2012 USRowing National Championships in the event and was in the lightweight women’s quad that won bronze in Slovenia." -USRowing Press Release here >


Complete info and schedule with Results that will be posted on this page >


Watch live streaming of finals at: http://www.ustream.tv/usrowing

-Let's hope the stream doesn't collapse again at the 1000m....

The same day that set on me
Woke the decision
Another race
Another day
Take time off, or get up, get out ?
Attention, Row.
And I'm off again.
For as lon as I believe I can, I will.

Holland Beker

Once again time for the Holland Beker! Results and live racing can be watched here >

All time is Central Europe Time.

Sat 10:20 : [118] W 1x Heat 3

1st, 2nd => SAB, other => R

ver.	ploeg slag	baan
NER	Nereus 3	[1]
	Suzan Bouwman
INA	Indonesia	[2]
	Maryam Makdalena Daimoi
GYA	Gyas	[3]
	Sophie Souwer
NJO	Njord	[4]
	Nicole Beukers
SKA	Skadi	[5]
	Ursula Grobler
MEX	Mexico	[6]
	Debora Oakley

Scenes from the Bosbaan, Amsterdam

Somewhere under the rainbow, (the Bosbaan)

Finishing Line

Docks

Frans Gobel after his row

John and Jeroen

Bosbaan Cafe

Getting ready for the Holland Beker, I am once again in my happy place : the Bosbaan. There is something about this course that I feel at home with. Perhaps it was my unbelievable 2010 race where I was able to edge in front of Karsten in the semi, and Knapkova in the heats! That was a great summer with sunshine weather. Last year I returned to a colder Bosbaan with doubles partner Abby Broughton as we prepared for Lucern World Cup 3. We raced the 2x against GB and Canada whom we would later meet in Lucern. This year, the Bosbaan is throwing incredible waves and wind at me. I am racing the open single and racing against some really strong Dutch women. I have had the pleasure of training with Nicole and she is really fast! Emma Twigg was going to race, but withdrew her entry. Frida Svenson was out today managing the waves quite nicely. I hope I can do the same tomorrow when we race. Just make it to Sunday when the weather is suppose to be better!

Didn't make London

Brandenburg - Beetzsee Regatta

This last weekend I raced in Brandenburg, which is east of Berlin. The logistics of the regatta was perfect, with being picked up at the Airport from a wonderful host, Gunter to the scheduling of the events that went off perfectly on time and quick lane reschedules. The regatta set up was quite nice with a change/locker room that really made me think, wow! The best part was I got to race with a starting system. My first time ever. That really helped with the start. The German U23 were having their trials there as well, although I'm told that most German's don't enjoy going to Brandenburg. The water is very bumpy, so put it mildly. I came to experience this chop on Saturday that paralyzed me. Sunday was better, but still lots of mental reminders to 'keep it together' as little waves crashed into my oars.

I took some pictures of the RTC athletes in Brandenburg that can be viewed here >

A bilboard as you enter the course has a blond-haired German girl, with her hair flying off to the side. Even when the photos are taken for marketing they didn't hide the fact that its windy. I thought it was sad that a beautiful regatta venue like this is not enjoyed because the water does not lend itself for rowers to enjoy good performance. That's why Lucern remains such a great venue for its history of flat water. The same can be said of the beautiful training center of Oklahoma which can not overshadow the fact that it still remains very windy. Other rowing courses like Groningen in the north of Netherlands has the same reputation. There is a new course, called the Willem-Alexander Baan in production in Rotterdam. It hopes to aid to the bid as a future Olympic city. But all the modern amenities still doesn't quite tip the scale for rowers to want to come and train. As a side note, the Netherlands will then have 3 full 2km rowing courses. The USA does not have 1.

I was told I upset the organizers at Brandenburg. I did not row into the medal dock after my final. But there was some confusion on my part. As we started to row home from the finish, a referee called us back. A rower was complaining. I thought we were going to be asked to re-row the race. I waited to see if I would be called over to the medal dock, or we should go prepare to race again. I rowed a little down, then a little up the course. And after nothing was clear, I decided to just row to the docks. Well, on the grandstand I'm told that they were announcing for me, and spectators thought I was coming over, then saw me row away. I went afterwards to collect the beautiful medal and gift bag. Sorry I missed the red carpet. Thank you very much to the organizers (Steffen and Volker) for all the transport help.

Successful ROWING

Saw this book when I was in the Netherlands at coach Ans's house. Wish I had the time to read it. Love the heritage of rowing. Its a great sport that way.

To be part and parcel, I'm continuing to write a little chapter as I experience it.

Funding and the Ted Stevens Act

taken from Mark Cuban

"Because most Olympic sport athletes are severely underpaid — if at all. For every Usain Bolt who makes millions in endorsements and appearance fees (none from the IOC, however), there’s hundreds of elite athletes making ends meet just so they can train.


Athletes in “non-pro league sports,” swimming, figure skating, track and field, etc., have only one option to be truly considered the best in the world — win an Olympic medal.

And unfortunately, that option requires athletes to be the integral part in the most inefficient, dysfunctional, dated and corrupt system in sports — the IOC and their shady web of federations, committees and governing bodies.

In fact, in the United States, the Ted Stevens Amateur Sports Act grants legal monopoly status to the USOC. Any international sports event in the U.S. that has an Olympic affiliation must receive the blessing of the USOC and will also be required to pay a substantial sanctioning fee." ....

Desktop Screen Saver

Here starts my Travels and Misc Desktop Screen Saver Series to download.

Taken in Amsterdam, Netherlands

Taken in Delft, Netherlands

NK (Dutch Champs) on the Bosbaan

I'm here at the NK (Dutch National Championships) held at the Bosbaan in Amsterdam watching this huge event. I can't help but make a little comparison to the USA.
So at this regatta, you have all the clubs, and their loyal supporters and the club's heritage that brings a certain code of honour to the sport of rowing felt at the regatta. Then you also have the student clubs which would be somewhat equivalent to the universities of the U.S. You have novices and juniors, aspiring to be in the Senior A, all at one regatta, racing. It brings the whole family together. So there is a continuation from one part of your rowing, (junior, to university to senior) to another. Whereas it would seem like a very disjointed system where universities especially function like a closed entity. And in most cases, the dominent entity. NSR regattas are also distant, kind-of poorly attended, meaning in spectators, although wildly written about under pseudo-names (what kind of support it that)? I know rowing seems to have no status in the U.S being in the shadows of Football, Baseball, Basketball, so the experience of rowing in Europe is fantastic where suddenly your sport is revered and somewhat even recognized. (Tired of hearing the question, where do you put your fishing pole in that boat?!)

Bikes and Buoys

Last 500m

Bosbaan
Boats and Cafe

and here come the bike supporters following every stroke of the race, cheering athletes on

Clubs Together

So What Happens Now?

The USA double of Julie and Kristin must place top 4 in the first world cup in Belgrade Serbia (4-6 May) or the second world cup in Lucerne, Switerland (25-27 May). If they do, they will go to the Olympics. If they don't then we go back to trials in Princeton on Mercer Lake June 11-14th. Who ever wins this trial, goes to the Olympics.

Watch our Final Live 9:40am PST

WATCH IT HERE ON ustream.tv/usrowing

USRowing NSR II  - Schedule
Date: Thursday April 12, 2012


Event 33
09:40
Womens Ltwt 2x (LW2x)

Lane 3:
Lake Union Crew (Ursula Grobler, Hillary Saeger)

Results will be posted here

Live Streaming of Finals:
USRowing will live stream finals for this event online at http://www.ustream.tv/usrowing. Purchase race clips after the event at http://www.usrowing.org/Multimedia/VideoDownloads.aspx.

Photos on Row2k

NSR 2 - Step 1 to Olympics

It's National Selection Regatta (NSR) Time! First you have NSR 1 which is usually for singles and pairs. And then you have NSR 2 which features doubles and pairs again. For the Lightweight women double scull, abbreviated as LW2x this is the only olympic event. And through the USA trials system, this is the only selection procedure. You show up for the race, and who ever wins goes.

Our race schedule looks like this: 

Tuesday 4/10/12        9:00am    LW2x   Time Trial 1

Wednesday 4/11/12  10:10am  LW2X  Semi A/B

Thursday 4/12/12       9:40am    LW2X  Final A

Our event entries are up to 10 boats. We are racing for Lake Union Crew and will be abbreviated ast LUC. Thank you to Rome & Mara and all the rowers at LUC who have housed us and supported us while training in Seattle. Rome is currently away in Haiti doing her outreach program. Its fabulous gift of humanity and you can read more about it here on LUC's Outreach >> Rome went to Lesotho one year, for her outreach program, which was close to my heart, being in South Africa! 

JL Racing made us very cool gear, which I got the opportunity to design again! Thank you Joline!

The Competitors:

For Cal Rowing you have Julie and Kristin who were the USA double in 2011, and did very well, qualifying the boat for the olympics in the World Champs. Now this NSR 2 regatta is the race for who will be in that boat that qualified. Confused yet, doesn't make sense right? Go to Selection 101 for more details. Also racing are Jen and Jenny from Vesper/Pennac. Jen Goldsack was in the 2008 Olympic Lightweight boat. From OKC are the girls who medaled at the Pan Am Games last year October. Also from Seattle are the Pocock lightweights, and SRC girls who shared the waters with us. It's a stacked race! So looking forward to bringing out everyone's potential!

You can watch the finals on TeamUSA.org and all results and schedule changes can be found on USRowing's website.