More training, more teams arriving!

We've been logging some miles and getting in some good race prep pieces at Karapiro over the last couple of days. One of my favorite things we do (as most other large squads do) is race pieces against one another on the race course. We've gotten to do a few against our W4- and W4x, and it's as close as we get to racing until next Tuesday--so we make the most of it. It's so much fun to race, and it makes us all faster--and it's just an awesome feeling, going down the course with all cylinders firing! I can't wait to start racing.

As of yesterday, nearly every federation has taken up residence at the course. The Dutch, Polish, and Swiss teams, who had been training near Taupo (a couple of hours south of the lake), have come up, and the New Zealand squad is training here now, too. The Dutch are also staying at our hotel, making it almost an entirely-rower residence: the US, Netherlands, France, Lithuania, and Serbia are all here!

I posted some photos from our warm-up run, which is a pretty, hilly jog through the New Zealand countryside. More videos to come today--since racing's just around the corner (the New Zealand daily paper actually had a 6-page insert about the World Rowing Championships!), it's time for some video interviews with US team members!