The Journey Begins Again

If anyone had asked me way back in 2006, when I first started to row, if I thought I would be aiming for my 3rd national team in as many years, I would have thought they were crazy. But funny enough this is where I find myself at this point in my life.

On the 5th of November my step-daughter called to say that she was pregnant and that I was going to be a grandmother! No way I said, Nanna, is what I will be. I am too young to be "Grandma"! So I guess that will be another milestone for me, "The first nanna on the Australian Rowing team!"

It hasn't been easy though. The last 6 months have been tough, trying to balance between keeping my body actually working. Not just rowing, but keeping the balance between some tough training and enough rest so that my body will actually do what I ask of it. So far so good!

We had our National Championships just over a week ago and I guess you could say I did pretty good! Alex Green, from Sydney, (who was in the team with me last year) and I teamed up in the double scull and won it pretty handily against two other crews. Then came the single, where I found myself going from teammate to rival, rowing against Alex and 3 other women. Unfortunately for me Alex came home with the gold and I picked up the silver medal. I guess I can't complain, I had the best singles race I have ever had, I couldn't have done anything more.

Because of these results Alex and I have been selected along with Peter Siri, from Townsville and the new kid on the block Nick Bisetto, who rows with me in Melbourne. We have a new cox as well this year Shannon Narracott from Canberra, who we haven't met yet. We have been invited to our first camp in a weeks time in Canberra. I am sure we are all excited, I know I am, to see how fast we can make this boat go! Also invited to the camp is my coach Stu McShane.

This past few months we have had 6 Adaptive rowers at our club, Mercantile. There are some exciting prospects coming up the ranks so it will be hard to keep a position in the boat in the near future, not only for the men, but for us women as well. The one nice thing is that there are a number of us now, I don't feel like the odd one out in the club.

Through this blog I will keep you up to date on our progress, any seat changes, any travels that we may be sent on (of which I am hoping there will be a couple!). I feel that we have unfinished business from the World Championships last year. We made the A final, ended up in 6th, but didn't have a good row at all, so we are all out to change that!

I hope that you enjoy the journey that I am about to take you on. Without the support from my friends and family this journey would be no fun! I want to share the ups and downs, the joy and pain, the happiness and sadness of what elite sport is all about. As my sister said to me two years ago "isn't about the destination, it is all about the journey". One that I hope you will enjoy with me.