Sorry for the late reply but it has been a really busy day. We arrvied at the venue later than anticipated because winter had returned with a lot of snowfall and difficult travel as a result.
The whole competition was well organised and run to the minute. They are playing loud music throughout the race and there are two big screens with the live race results, one behind the rowers, the other one across the room for the rowers to watch. The only problem I could spot was the dry and warm air.
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Which leads me to my race report. My plan was to start out at 1:56 pace for the first ten, maybe twenty minutes, with the option to speed up after ten minutes, if I was feeling up to it. Then speed up further in the second to last five minutes and a strong final five minutes. I hoped to be finishing with a score higher than my last test before the race (7809m) or even better set a new SB (7840m). Well, I started like planned, but legs didn‘t feel right from the beginning. So I kept that 1:56 pace for 20 minutes, but there was absolutely no way of speeding up. With the second to last five minutes starting I was able to pull occasional 1:55s or 1:54s and in the final two minutes maybe a bit faster. But it wasn‘t good enough to better my latest 30 min test, let alone to set a new PB, as I finished with 7801m. So at first I was a bit disappointed, until I realised that I had finished 7th out of 16 in my category. That was higher than I had expected and the reason was that two of the „big guys“ had given up during the race. It seems they were also suffering from the dry and warm air.
Highlight of the day for me was a gentleman aged 71 who set a new world record in the 70-74 mhwt category in 8144m!
So the warm and dry air didn't bother him too much!
Driving back was a bit tiring because snowfall and traffic (end of school holiday) had increased and after a good bavarian dinner I am ready for a good night‘s sleep
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Best wishes to both I send. There is no try - just do! 
