So yesterday was our last practice on the beautiful Lake Lillinonah in New Milford, CT. The next time the four of us will be in a boat together will be in a rented boat from Europe on the championship race course in the Czech Republic. We're all very stoked and excited to race over there. The only thing in the way of Mike and I arriving in the Czech Republic is a 6 and a half hour flight from JFK airport to Zurich, Switzerland, followed by a 4 hour layover and 1 and a half hour flight from there to Prague. We'll be decked out with some of our gear for the first time with our new Team USA polo shirt and jacket. We love the new gear and we all love the fact that we represent Team USA. Somehow the red, white, and blue rowing crest on the polo shirt brings out the color of my eyes (at least that's what I tell myself).
Luckily I am not a huge fan of airline food because I have to be very cognizant of what I eat and how much I eat in order to prepare for our first weigh-in for U23 Worlds on Thursday. I am expected to weigh-in around 71.2 kg (about 157 lbs.) and my travel buddy, Mike, has to weigh about 67.5 kg (about 149 lbs.). Don't ask me why Mike weighs so little because he's only about 2 inches shorter and has a wider waist than me. Don't worry though because we still like to give him a hard time for having a rather large backside. For whatever reason he's just naturally light which helps me out, so everyone is happy.
Well, time for one last workout in the USA on the erg (indoor stationary rowing machine) before Mike and his dad pick me up on their way to the airport. The next you hear from us will be from Eastern Europe!
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Friday, July 17, 2009
Last day at GMS!!
So today was our last day at GMS! We all unpacked our rooms and left for our respective homes this afternoon. It's sad to leave but it's also really exciting. I'm finding it hard to believe that we leave for Prague tomorrow but I think we're all ready to race and hopefully win a medal! We will all arrive in Prague on Sunday morning and once we are there, we will only have about 6 practices on the course before we duke it out with the best light quads in the world. You can follow all of the racing and see our results at http://www.u23-2009.com/. From there, just click on the "Results" page and you'll be able to see how all US boats are doing. We'll keep posting as more exciting stuff happens.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Help us out!
Like reading our blog? Please help support us by donating money at our fundraising site: http://www.firstgiving.com/guenterbeutter1. Every penny counts so we are incredibly grateful for any support you can give us. If you can't make a monetary donation, tell your friends and family about this blog! It means a lot to us to see that people are interested in our trip so please, spread the word!
The Rowers
As my first post I wanted to tell everyone a little bit about each rower. We have a good mix of guys from various colleges and clubs throughout the northeastern United States.
Our bowman, Will Kelly is the second oldest of four, all of whom row. He is from New Canaan, CT. His older brother, Nate is going to the U23 World Championships in the men's heavyweight double with Columbia rower Sebastian "Seabass" Kirwin. Will is the youngest member of the quad, a rising junior and was the stroke for the second varsity at Trinity College in Hartford, CT. A talented rower and former Junior National Team member in the quad, Will is the jester of the group. After a large cup of coffee, Will is known to talk so much that random strangers find it necessary to tell him to "shut his loud mouth." Always with a funny comment or fresh dance move, it is hard not to laugh when you are around Will. As this is the first time Will has ever rowed lightweight, his is finding rather quickly the deep appreciation and attentiveness most lightweights have for each meal and the numerous conversations that revolve around milkshakes, fast food, desserts, and any other artery-clogging meal that infiltrates every lightweight's nightly dreams.
Pete Orlando, or "Grandpa Pete" as his boat mates call him, is two seat in the quad. He is from Pelham, NY and a recent graduate from Ithaca College and member of New York Athletic Club. Pete is a very relaxed guy. Always taking his time, whether it is on the dock getting set up for a long row, sipping coffee for hours at a coffee shop, or when simply making his daily bowl of oatmeal for breakfast, Pete rushes for nothing or nobody. He is the one who keeps us in line on long rows by commenting on our technique or relaxing our rhythm. Watch out though, because if you upset Pete he has been known to quip teammates with such outdated insults as "goober" or "dillweed" (whatever that is). This is Pete's last year of U23 eligibility, and after having such a rewarding summer at GMS under head coach G-Man, it is likely you will be hearing more of his rowing success for years to come if he decides to stick around and continue his training here.
Mike Nucci sits three seat in the quad and hails from Blue Bell, PA. Mike is the weight-maker of the boat, meaning that he helps fatties like yours truly and Will make average weight by weighing in under the boat average (FISA boat average is 70 kilograms or roughly 154.3 lbs.) Mike is a rising senior at Columbia University and has been in Columbia's varsity lightweight 8 for the past two years. I've known Mike since we were both 13 and there hasn't been a season of rowing where we haven't rowed on the same team. We started rowing our freshman year at St. Joe's Prep and somehow managed to end up rowing lightweight together at Columbia. We began sculling (rowing with two oars instead of just one oar while the rower is designated to one side of the boat) at Malta Boat Club in Philadelphia where we both won gold in the intermediate lighweight quad at Club Nationals in 2007. Mike is a comical character and my best friend, but can be a little too excitable at times for those who are constantly around him (take for example his boat mates who eat, sleep, and row with him everyday). An example of this anxiousness is on any random night Mike will get the urge, perhaps unyielding fixation is a better term, for candy, and is restless until this craving is satisfied with a quick run to the local Rite Aid. His weakness is anything chocolate or his all-time favorite candy, Sour Patch Kids. Even with this vulnerability, Mike is still both light and fast when it comes to rowing, so we can't help but laugh whenever Mike has another urgent craving.
And that leaves me, Bob Duff, as stroke of the quad. I am a rising senior alongside Mike Nucci at Columbia. I am from Huntingdon Valley, PA and the second oldest of five in a line of siblings who all row. My older brother, Shawn, is class of 2008 at the University of Delaware who was the first Duff to spread the crew gene to his brothers and sisters. He currently helps coach where he first learned how to row at St. Joe's Prep in Philly. My younger brother, Jimmy, just finished his freshman year at Marist. Both my brothers are big guys at 6'4-5" and at least 200 lbs., yet somehow I managed to get stuck with the puny lightweight gene. My younger sister, Johanna, just graduated from Mount St. Joe's after a successful season capped with a trip across the pond to Henley. My youngest sister, Mary, a rising senior at the Mount was also in the boat. Johanna heads to Northeastern as a Husky in the fall. I'm not sure why rowing became so popular amongst my siblings because both my parents never touched an oar before their kids started rowing. My uncle Jim McGlone, though, started rowing at the Prep in the 70s and then went on to row for Yale, and his two sons followed suit rowing at the Prep. The eldest, James, rows lightweight at Princeton while the other, Patrick, still rows at the Prep and just earned a spot on the Junior National Team this summer.
I hope you learned a little something about the guys in the quad. Stay tuned for more posts from us and a post following our arrival in the Czech Republic on Sunday.
<3 Bob
Our bowman, Will Kelly is the second oldest of four, all of whom row. He is from New Canaan, CT. His older brother, Nate is going to the U23 World Championships in the men's heavyweight double with Columbia rower Sebastian "Seabass" Kirwin. Will is the youngest member of the quad, a rising junior and was the stroke for the second varsity at Trinity College in Hartford, CT. A talented rower and former Junior National Team member in the quad, Will is the jester of the group. After a large cup of coffee, Will is known to talk so much that random strangers find it necessary to tell him to "shut his loud mouth." Always with a funny comment or fresh dance move, it is hard not to laugh when you are around Will. As this is the first time Will has ever rowed lightweight, his is finding rather quickly the deep appreciation and attentiveness most lightweights have for each meal and the numerous conversations that revolve around milkshakes, fast food, desserts, and any other artery-clogging meal that infiltrates every lightweight's nightly dreams.
Pete Orlando, or "Grandpa Pete" as his boat mates call him, is two seat in the quad. He is from Pelham, NY and a recent graduate from Ithaca College and member of New York Athletic Club. Pete is a very relaxed guy. Always taking his time, whether it is on the dock getting set up for a long row, sipping coffee for hours at a coffee shop, or when simply making his daily bowl of oatmeal for breakfast, Pete rushes for nothing or nobody. He is the one who keeps us in line on long rows by commenting on our technique or relaxing our rhythm. Watch out though, because if you upset Pete he has been known to quip teammates with such outdated insults as "goober" or "dillweed" (whatever that is). This is Pete's last year of U23 eligibility, and after having such a rewarding summer at GMS under head coach G-Man, it is likely you will be hearing more of his rowing success for years to come if he decides to stick around and continue his training here.
Mike Nucci sits three seat in the quad and hails from Blue Bell, PA. Mike is the weight-maker of the boat, meaning that he helps fatties like yours truly and Will make average weight by weighing in under the boat average (FISA boat average is 70 kilograms or roughly 154.3 lbs.) Mike is a rising senior at Columbia University and has been in Columbia's varsity lightweight 8 for the past two years. I've known Mike since we were both 13 and there hasn't been a season of rowing where we haven't rowed on the same team. We started rowing our freshman year at St. Joe's Prep and somehow managed to end up rowing lightweight together at Columbia. We began sculling (rowing with two oars instead of just one oar while the rower is designated to one side of the boat) at Malta Boat Club in Philadelphia where we both won gold in the intermediate lighweight quad at Club Nationals in 2007. Mike is a comical character and my best friend, but can be a little too excitable at times for those who are constantly around him (take for example his boat mates who eat, sleep, and row with him everyday). An example of this anxiousness is on any random night Mike will get the urge, perhaps unyielding fixation is a better term, for candy, and is restless until this craving is satisfied with a quick run to the local Rite Aid. His weakness is anything chocolate or his all-time favorite candy, Sour Patch Kids. Even with this vulnerability, Mike is still both light and fast when it comes to rowing, so we can't help but laugh whenever Mike has another urgent craving.
And that leaves me, Bob Duff, as stroke of the quad. I am a rising senior alongside Mike Nucci at Columbia. I am from Huntingdon Valley, PA and the second oldest of five in a line of siblings who all row. My older brother, Shawn, is class of 2008 at the University of Delaware who was the first Duff to spread the crew gene to his brothers and sisters. He currently helps coach where he first learned how to row at St. Joe's Prep in Philly. My younger brother, Jimmy, just finished his freshman year at Marist. Both my brothers are big guys at 6'4-5" and at least 200 lbs., yet somehow I managed to get stuck with the puny lightweight gene. My younger sister, Johanna, just graduated from Mount St. Joe's after a successful season capped with a trip across the pond to Henley. My youngest sister, Mary, a rising senior at the Mount was also in the boat. Johanna heads to Northeastern as a Husky in the fall. I'm not sure why rowing became so popular amongst my siblings because both my parents never touched an oar before their kids started rowing. My uncle Jim McGlone, though, started rowing at the Prep in the 70s and then went on to row for Yale, and his two sons followed suit rowing at the Prep. The eldest, James, rows lightweight at Princeton while the other, Patrick, still rows at the Prep and just earned a spot on the Junior National Team this summer.
I hope you learned a little something about the guys in the quad. Stay tuned for more posts from us and a post following our arrival in the Czech Republic on Sunday.
<3 Bob
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
First post
Hey everyone,
So we just started this blog to keep anyone who is interested up to date on what we have been doing and how our training has been going. Since this is the first post, I figured I'd give you all a little bit of background information on our training.
We are rowing at the GMS Rowing Center in New Milford, CT, coached by Guenter "G-Man" Beutter. GMS is the site of both the Men's and Women's Lightweight U23 Quad camps so we've been sharing our training time with a girl's quad that also qualified for U23 Worlds. We've been at this camp since June 8th and most of our time has been spent in the quad with the current line-up so hopefully our experience together will help us out at Worlds. A lot of our training is long steady state rows but recently, we've done a lot of race-pace pieces. We've had some pretty good results recently so we're looking forward to racing over in the Czech Republic next week. Things start to get pretty exciting from here on out so keep checking the blog to hear about our training and race results.
- Will
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