BRIC 2015

[Paul Victory]

09:00 is a bit tough! I'll be there early anyway, so I'll be sure to yell some support your way. Looks like it's going to be busy!

John

Thanks John

At that hour of the morning, I'll need all the support I can get. I'm going to a 50th birthday party on the Saturday (Jennifer's brother), so the early start is not ideal and I tend not to be at my best first thing in the morning.

I'm going to train early tomorrow and Friday to get my body a bit more accustomed to exercising at that time, but not that early today as I didn't manage to get on an erg yesterday until 10 p.m. I'm heading over to London on Friday afternoon and will be staying with my sister in law, who lives about 5 miles from the velodrome.

I'll stay on to cheer you on in your race and I'm happy to cox you if you don't have anyone lined up.

Paul V

[Recess]

Hey Paul,

If you are still around, I think I might take you up on that offer. I hope I'll just need someone to keep me from straying outside the 1:39 pace - and then someone to swear at me to get the last 500m out of my legs!

If you feel up to it after your row, it'd be an honour to have your help.

John

[Paul Victory]

Hey Paul,

If you are still around, I think I might take you up on that offer. I hope I'll just need someone to keep me from straying outside the 1:39 pace - and then someone to swear at me to get the last 500m out of my legs!

If you feel up to it after your row, it'd be an honour to have your help.

John

I'm more than happy to stay on and cox you. By the time I have done my cool down, showered and changed, it will be almost 10:20 in any event. Just tell me what you want me to do/say and I'll do it!

Paul V

[plummy]

Are coxes allowed on the race floor? - I've never known that at EIRC or BIRC (they are at the Crash-B's)

[Paul Victory]

Are coxes allowed on the race floor? - I've never known that at EIRC or BIRC (they are at the Crash-B's)

Looks like I'm not going to be coxing John after all. Stan Nwaka has posted on Facebook that he rang and asked them about this today and was told that they're not allowed. Sorry, John. At least I can still cheer you on from the sidelines.

Paul V

[Paul Victory]

I've just seen the competitor's pack for BRIC and I now know what it must have felt like to be a passenger with a third class ticket on the Titanic.

1. All competitors must be registered at least 75 minutes prior to their race time.

That presents an interesting challenge for me and the other 71 people who are racing at 9 a.m. as the Velodrome only opens at 7:30.

2. Each race will have a marshal for the group. Competitors will be given time to warm up after their group marshalling time.

It appears from this that you will only have a limited time window within which to warm up.

3. There will be no machines available for cooling down.



4. Changing facilities and showers are limited, so it is suggested that competitors avoid using these facilities if possible.

It gets better and better...

These are just the highlights, but I wonder if the same rules are bring applied to the British rowing team?

To be honest, if I'd known all this in advance, I'm not sure I'd have bothered entering.

Paul V

[Recess]

It does make you wonder what the inflated entry fee is going towards. At the very least, you'd expect decent facilities!

Yelling from the side will hopefully be enough. Thanks for offering though.

John

[Paul Victory]

It does make you wonder what the inflated entry fee is going towards. At the very least, you'd expect decent facilities.

I guess it's down to who's organising the event. When Concept 2 were running it, the emphasis was on supporting the indoor rowing community and it was primarily a marketing tool for their products. Therefore the event was an investment by them and would not necessarily be expected to make a profit (I guess).

Now that British Rowing are running it, the emphasis is different. It seems to be about having a showcase for the British team and it may also be viewed as a means of raising additional funding for the team.

It may be a much better experience than I am anticipating and I may be overreacting a bit to some of the rules and regulations, but it will be interesting to see what feedback the event gets from the indoor rowing community as a whole and how this impacts on subsequent participation levels (assuming British Rowing decide to keep running it).

The main thing that's bothering me is having to be on the road at 7 a.m. in order to ensure I arrive in time to register for my race and than having to hang around for ages with no access to a warm up machine. I'm also concerned that I may not be given access to a machine for long enough to do my normal warm up and that the timing of the warm up may be either too long before the race or too close to race time. The absence of cool down machines and shortage of shower facilities is also bothersome.

Paul V

[plummy]

Nee-Naw!! A quick read of the last few posts makes me think we have wandered an awful long way from the title of the thread - shouldn't there be a BRIC thread somewhere with all this on?

[Paul Victory]

Good suggestion plummy. Is there some way we could move these last few posts to a new thread?

[plummy]

If you start a new (BRIC) thread I'll see if I can do it via the moderator's panel later (unless you want to have a go in the mean time)

[dr3do]

and I may be overreacting a bit to some of the rules and regulations

I personally would feel same way; I would have trouble with #3 and #4, which are no go's for me.
For number #2 I would create 2-3 different warmup plans/strategies to be save, depending on what possibilities I then will have. And #1 is very annoying, but it's possible to handle quite well. But as you write, these are only the highlights.

[hewitt]

Paul. The main reasons I am not going is the price of the tickets and the distance I would have to travel. But if the event was in Manchester and that price I would not be going either. The British Rowing is lottery funder, backed by millions. So trying to force people to be there 75min early at 9AM race and penning people off like cattle before the race with no cool down machines is a bit embarassing to say the least. And then to surgest that you do not have a shower afterwards is a joke.

Like you said,I bet the GB team get a shower after there race.

[strider77]

Sounds awfully controlled to me glad I was too much of a wuss to enter

The very best of luck to Paul and John, you are both incredible athletes and I am looking forward to learning of your triumphs (no pressure then Al ? )

Seriously you are both in amazing shape and have done all the hard work, so just execute the plan

[CamiCrew]

Go go go! Excited for you Paul & John! Will be cheering you on from a looooong, long way away!! Hope you can hear it =D>

Have fun guys

[Recess]

Hmmmm... Good news/bad news today.

Good news: 73.8kg and HRV app says "go for it!" (Albeit a day early)
Bad news: nose is blocked and I'm sneezing.... Great timing!!

Vitamin C and positive thinking will get rid of it. I hope.
John


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[dr3do]

Vitamin C and positive thinking will get rid of it. I hope.

We send you positive vibrations… hope you'll get/feel them. Rock it!

[stumpy]

Stick to the plan guys, and have a good event.
Colin B

[Paul Victory]

Thanks Colin.

Hope the vitamin C does the trick John.

[Recess]

So do I!! Although I seem to have substituted digestive biscuits and shortbread from the airport lounge for the time being. Yum!

By the time I take off, I'll be a heavyweight again!!!

I'll need to be in by 08:20 tomorrow for weigh in, so I'll try to keep an eye out for you. I'll have my FS hoodie on anyway, so you should be able to spot me. If not, I'll be the one shouting loudly for you during your race.

John

[Paul Victory]

Thanks John

I'm currently at a birthday party. I had a few glasses of champagne earlier, but I'm now drinking water. My in laws think I've been taken over by an alien!

Hope I've sobered up in time to get to the velodrome by 7:30 tomorrow morning!

Paul V

[plummy]

Best of luck guys - thank you for flying the flag for Free Spirits. =D> =D>

Looking forward to reports and feedback about the event.

[Jill]

Good luck for tomorrow Paul and John. From a slightly mature cheerleader. RAH! RAH! RAH!

[CamiCrew]

Have a blast guys! Best of luck & enjoy the racing!

[Recess]

It looks like my HRV app is on my side today! Still a bit blocked, but it's only 6:36 (I hope) of suffering.



Just about to leave the hotel, hopefully Paul got to the velodrome ok!

John


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