Ladies 60 - 69 Large Team Relay - Newquay

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Jill
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Ladies 60 - 69 Large Team Relay - Newquay

Post by Jill »

And this is how it began …

Unless otherwise stated, my quotes are extracts from The Diamonds Facebook page.

On February 9th, Joe ( Keating ) wrote, “ Tommy ( Gee ) and myself have talked it over and we are both keen to see another 100km relay attempt at Newquay this September. Same venue, same weekend with the rows taking place on Saturday 23 September.

We are hoping to recruit large teams in the gents 60+ and 70+ categories. Currently, there are no records quoted on the C2 site so, much as last year, we would be setting an initial mark.

I’ve contacted Georgina ( Price ) about recruiting a Ladies team, large or small, for the 60+ category. Again, there are no current records. “

Georgina replied, “ I’m really hoping we can get together a large ladies team! I’ll rephrase that - a ladies team of 11 or more. I’ll wait and see the response before contacting the other ladies who are not on fb. “

I replied. “ I would certainly feel happy about this as long as we could muster up enough ladies. “

And this is how it finished …

Both World and British records for the 100,000 metres relay - Large team ( Hwt ) achieved by the following:

Ladies - 60 - 69yrs - Denise Puzey’s Diamonds (11 rowers) - 6.39.02.3

And this is the bit in-between …

On May 17th, Georgina wrote, “ It’s also time for a roll call for the ladies (hopefully) 60+ large team relay attempt in Newquay this September. “

After I’d read this, mentally, there were two Jills - the ‘ Nothing to worry about, you did this last year and it’s going to be a large team, so come on, step up to the line Jill ‘ and the ‘ Are you crazy! Don’t even think about it! Jill ‘.

So … We all know that when it comes to erging, sanity is for wimps. :lol: :wink:

On May 18th, I replied, “ Georgina, please put my name down. “

Regretfully, due to illness, injury or prior commitments, not as many ladies were available and by the beginning of August, it was looking very doubtful as to whether we would have sufficient numbers to make up a large team.

Also, long before the beginning of August, the ‘ Are you crazy! Jill ‘ was in total command as figuratively speaking, she began lobbing an array of weapons at me: apprehension, anxiety, lack of confidence and worst of all, scoring direct hits with the dreaded P word. Pace. 8-[

On August 13th, Georgina wrote, “ Unfortunately it looks as though we are going to be a small team for Newquay. “

On August 14th, She wrote, “ If we stick to the tried and tested 200 metres each, we will have approx. 7 minutes recovery. We just need to pace ourselves as we would have to do this 50 times! A sub 2.06 pace would bring us home in under 7 hrs. “

I found Georgina’s words very useful and they helped me to come up with what I hoped was a manageable pace plan for myself. Keep it between 2.00 and 2.06 pace - do not attempt to go any faster and try your absolute best not to go any slower. Once I had made that decision, I felt much more settled in my mind. :)

Additionally and in the way of good news, Georgina had been able to recruit another team member, which increased our number to eleven - enough to qualify as a large team. :D

On the day itself, although the challenge took place at a different hotel from last year, the set up was the same - the erg was a Model E and the foot straps had been made into ‘ stirrups ‘ using sponge tubing and masking tape.

In order to prepare for an 11.00am start, everyone was asked to be there an hour beforehand, so that we would have time to practise the change overs, seat and helping off duties, sort out an order of rotation ( I was 10 ) and warm up. Some of us preferred to row in shoes and some of us, myself included, decided to wear thick socks instead. Oh. Did I mention that I wore my lucky Pink Star Socks underneath? :D

At 11.00am Marjorie began the challenge with the first of her turbo-charged 200 metres and the rest of the girls followed suit … and that’s how they kept up the pace more or less throughout … Fast and Furious! They were marvellous and it was a huge honour and privilege to row with them all. ^O^ :D

And what about me? Although the slowest, I knew that sticking to my pace plan was the right decision and that’s what I did. At the beginning, when I saw the splits that the girls were achieving, it would have been tempting to try and emulate them. Tempting and foolish. I could have kept it up for a little while but as my energy levels began to slip away far too soon, despondency would have set in … And then what? Perhaps in my case, the adage of ‘ It’s better to have arrived than not at all ‘ would have best summed up the situation. Towards the end my legs started to complain and there were times during the last 30 or so metres when I had difficulty keeping the pace at sub 2.06 but Georgina who came after me, soon sorted that out. :D

Georgina also managed to make a record throughout of the running splits:

10k - 1.55.6 20k - 1,56.3 30k - 1.56.6 40k - 1.57.4 50k - 1.57.8 60k - 1.58.2 70k - 1.58.8 80k - 1.59.2 90k - 1.59.5 100k - 1.59.7

We all gave a great cheer when 50.000 metres showed up on the monitor and then an even greater one, when Marjorie rode out the last 200. Mission accomplished and accomplished by a wonderful group of fit and strong young ladies. =D> ^O^ :D

Of course while our challenge was taking place there were two others taking place also.

The mens ( Joe Keating ) ( Hwt ) 60 - 69 large team ( 13 rowers including Richard ) and the mens ( Tommy Gee ) ( Hwt ) 70+ large team ( 17 rowers )

Both teams also obtained World and British records:

The 60 -69 Diamonds - 5.26.54.3
The 70+ No Surrender - 5.45.08.1

It was good to have Richard there with me this time - I appreciated his reassuring hugs and our occasional thumbs up signs to each other. When the opportunity arose, we even had time for a quick word.

Me, “ How’s it going? “
Richard, “ Apart from dying, no, correction, I’m dead! I’m fine. “ :lol:

I was extremely proud of this example of the walking dead. :)

With 41 rowers plus helpers all milling about it did get a little bit noisy … but it was a vibrant noise, a noise consisting of laughter and whooping and cheering and clapping.

At one point, I think it was when we had passed 25,000 metres, May ( Cassar ) and I started to sing a slightly different version of ELO’s Don’t Bring Me Down. It went something like this. We won’t get down, down, down, down. We won’t get down, down, down, down . We won’t get …

What’s that? Please could I stop now. :lol: :wink:

At about 10.30 that morning, we stood outside the hotel so that Georgina’s husband, Andy, could take our group photograph. While he was snapping away, I could hear some laughter coming from the other end of the line up but it wasn’t until Andy had posted the photograph on our Facebook page, that I realised why. A tall, youngish looking man had run up to the group, pulled up his top to expose a disappointedly hairless chest and then pulled down his trousers … Whoa :shock: … and only his trousers, to show off his one pack :shock: … More disappointment! :lol: :wink:

Perhaps our Adonis was hoping that his photograph would go ‘ virus ‘ on YouTube or something. I’m not sure what our own Miss Goody Two Shoes, the terror of the Weight Loss thread would have made of it all. The only ‘ hits ‘ that our young friend would have received would have come from her, as she sloshed him with her handbag. :lol: :wink:

Such fun and such a memorable day. :D

In the evening everyone met up for a celebratory meal and it gave us the opportunity to thank Georgina, Tommy and Joe for all their hard work in bringing everything together on the day. :D

Although due to tiredness, Richard and I were functioning on automatic pilot by then, it wasn’t until the next morning that we really noticed the aches and pains, especially in our legs and it took a few days for that to wear off, along with the feelings of tiredness.

My brain took even longer to return to normal and I never knew when it was about to short circuit. Driving home, we stopped at several watering holes and at one of them, whilst waiting at the counter for our coffees, I saw a lemon floating in a large cup of water. Next to it was a hand written sign that said, ‘ Balance a ZOP on the lemon and win a free cup of coffee ‘ . As I stood there thinking ZOP, ZOP, what the heck is a ZOP, I saw the bowl containing lots of 20p pieces … :roll: :lol:

As for the future, I think it’s time for me to hang up my oars and put myself out to grass. The ladies 60 - 69 small team record is still vacant The Diamond ladies would be strong contenders if they wished to put a team together. In fact, they would be spoilt for choice.

Thank you dear Free Spirits, without you all, I would never have been able to journey this far. :D
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Paul Victory
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Re: Ladies 60 - 69 Large Team Relay - Newquay

Post by Paul Victory »

Great write up Jill. ^O^ ^O^ ^O^

It makes me feel as if I was there (and even more regretful than I was already feeling that I couldn't be there). It brought back memories of the mixed team event that I took part in back in January 2016. There were only 14 of us, but it got quite noisy at times, particularly at changeovers or when significant milestones were reached. I can only imagine what it must have been like with 41 of you, plus assorted helpers and spectators. You must have had quite a large room with lots of space between the ergs, but it still must have been mayhem at times.

The social side was great too and I had considered going over as a spectator, but I knew I would have found it too difficult to resist the urge to take part, or should I say the "urge to erg". My back has just thanked me (yet again) for making that decision - unlike you, I don't have two Pauls, just a body part that talks to me from time to time. [-X :lol:

Anyway, many, many congratulations ( or, as we Irish would say, Céad Míle Comhghairdeas) to you and Richard and thanks again for the great write up.
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Re: Ladies 60 - 69 Large Team Relay - Newquay

Post by Sheena »

Sounds like it was a great event Jill. Congrats again to you all ^O^ =D>

We just checked out the Diamonds website (the facebook page is private but there are pics on the website). How come the men's teams seemed to have all the seats whereas the women all had to stand :!: :?

A very entertaining write up. It sounds like quite a gruelling day, I'm sure you can be forgiven at least one if not more dotty moments the day after :lol:

I'm sure those pink star socks may have a few more records in them yet :fsbgrin:

Well done again, Jan and Sheena
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Re: Ladies 60 - 69 Large Team Relay - Newquay

Post by Grobi »

Thank you for the lively report Jill and again congratulations on your world record! Given this was such a busy event, did you sell all the electric power being produced during the event to the city of Newquay? It would very well have paid you a fortune :D
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Re: Ladies 60 - 69 Large Team Relay - Newquay

Post by Ian Bee »

Inspirational stuff - thanks for taking the time to share.
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Re: Ladies 60 - 69 Large Team Relay - Newquay

Post by Tako »

Thank you very much for the great report! & Congratulations with the great achievement!

Having met both of you at Madchester made it much easier to visualise the story.

Well done!!
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Re: Ladies 60 - 69 Large Team Relay - Newquay

Post by Wolfmiester »

Excellent stuff, huge congratulation to you both, and the combined teams. ^O^ ^O^
Its great to see this sort of group event still going strong in the erging world.
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Re: Ladies 60 - 69 Large Team Relay - Newquay

Post by strider77 »

Fantastic write up of a fantastic achievement-well done Jill and Richard and everyone one else taking part. ^O^ ^O^ ^O^
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Re: Ladies 60 - 69 Large Team Relay - Newquay

Post by Bryce10 »

I ought to add a few words, primarily to thank people for their interest. I keep looking at the C2 certificate expecting my name not to be there!

For those unfamiliar with 100k the usual approach is to row flat out for 200 metres or about 20 strokes and then hand over to the next person as quickly as possible. Easy when you are fresh but my brain goes to mush when tired so it needs others to shout at you. Interesting training dilemma as it is requires both sprinting and endurance.

Our men's 60-69 record was 5 hours 26 minutes and 54.3 seconds which is an average pace of about 1:38 but of course we didn't know that at the outset. (As it turns out this only 12 seconds slower than the 50-59 record set by the French with more rowers)

I had gone to Newquay planning a pace of 1:40 or a little faster in the belief I could repeat it about 40 times but by the time my first turn came I had seen some superb rowing by people down at 1:28. At this point Plummy will raise his eyes to the ceiling because he knows how my mind works. The little devil on my shoulder yells " **** this for a game of toy soldiers " ( for friends whose first language is not English or indeed for many whose it is, I cannot easily translate this but I am sure you get the drift ) and awash with enough adrenalin to float the Titanic I blasted it and if memory serves I got my pace down to !:35 or less. There was no thought of what might happen when the adrenalin runs out (after about 10 reps) but I am delighted to say I managed to keep that kind of pace up. As luck would have it I was rowing when we closed out and I just managed to squeeze the monitor below 1:30. The video cuts off quite sharply which is just as well because I fell off the machine. I didn't throw up but I felt like it ..... In the spirit of true athleticism the first pint afterwards tasted like nectar in the brief few seconds it took to get it down my throat.

Full marks to the organiser (Tommy Gee and others). Team spirit couldn't have been better - I have taken part in team sports in the past and this is up there in terms of mutual support and encouragement.

Regards to all

Richard Underwood
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