One down, one to go in NZ!

So we finally got a chance to race yesterday, and got to line up in some great racing conditions and give it our first go in this lineup! We had a really solid piece, got some good things to work on for the final, and are looking forward to getting to race again on Sunday!

Today brought several more good races for our team: the W2x and W4x won their repechages, as did the M4-, and Julie Nichols in the LW1x advanced to the A-Final. We also saw some tough races, with the M4x, LW2x, and LM2x duking it out but winding up heading into the petites.

It's a definite change in atmosphere when racing starts. We've been hanging out training for a couple of weeks together, but starting Sunday, we all get wrapped up into our own racing, our own training, our own boats. It's nice to have dinner to socialize, but other than congratulating teammates on races well rowed, we start talking about the races themselves--and competition--a lot less. I guess it's because we spend enough time hashing out the results, good or bad, on our own and with our coaches and roommates and families, that meal times become more of a break from thinking about racing constantly.

I'm lucky to have both of my parents here to watch my racing this weekend. It's been nice to see them, because I usually only see them a few times a year, when we're training in California. It's also nice to meet teammates' parents and families. My boatmate's sister has been adventuring all over the North Island, and we've been vicariously living it up through her stories of bungy jumping and other craziness!

We're looking to log some good training and a lot of rest between now and our final on Sunday. Thanks to everyone who tuned in yesterday. I didn't realize that there wasn't video playing on the website, and it was just the "Live Results Viewer" broadcasting flags moving across the screen. There will indeed be live streaming video of the racing for the Friday, Saturday and Sunday finals on worldrowing.com and universalsports.com, though! A big storm coming through on Friday could change around race times, but I'll post the times for the US crews as soon as they're available.

Good luck to the US Adaptive crews racing their finals tomorrow: Ron Harvey, in the ASM1x Final B at 2:33pm (Wednesday, 9:33pm Eastern, 6:33pm Pacific), and our LTA4+ of Andrew Johnson, Eleni Englert, Emma Preuschl, Eric McDaniel, and Jennifer Sichel racing in the A Final at 3:55pm (Wednesday, 10:55pm Eastern, 7:55pm Pacific)!


P.S. Bonus tune added to the playlist from the last post: our boat's current new favorite, supplied by music guru and pair partner extraordinaire Elle Logan. Check it out at the link below:

Jolene (Remix)

Happy Halloween and Racing Underway!

Greetings from the racecourse! It's been difficult to post the last couple of days because of our schedule and internet availability, so please excuse the hiatus.

Last night was Halloween here, and we had some good spirit in the dining hall for dinner. Anna Goodale (8+) is from Maine, and luckily our team tracksuit provided a good costume.

Sarah Trowbridge (4x) scared everyone with some extremely realistic vampire teeth.

Unfortunately, the waitstaff was unfazed, but we all enjoyed the shenanigans. Don Langford, head of USRowing, brought us some Halloween temporary tattoos, which the majority of the team is sporting today!

With only two of our crews able to race yesterday--Mike Nucci and Evan Tsourtsoulas in the LM2- finished third and will race in the repechage tomorrow, and Abby Broughton and Ursula Grobler winning their heat of the LW2x to advance to Wednesday's semifinal--racing today includes several more events, with things kicking off with our women's quad. Some rough water early in the race course put them down a bit, but they were able to come back into a solid third place finish, good prep for their repechage on Thursday.

We're off for the rest of the day, so there's a good deal more to come from this blog--check back to see our playlist and two video interviews, if the internet's working at the hotel!

Good luck to all my USA teammates racing today!

Afternoon off...

This morning, we did a bit of pulling, which was really nice for getting to stretch our legs for the first time since arriving in New Zealand. I think that that's when it really starts to register for me. You'd think that "I'm in New Zealand for the World Rowing Championships" would hit home after the 30+ hours of traveling were over and we officially arrived...or maybe during our first trip down the racecourse. I can't speak for others, but when we start doing things that feel like racing, that's when that awesome feeling hits: "I'm here in NZ, racing to represent the USA, and I'm ready to GO!" Now, there's just a slight, week-long delay before we actually get to head up to the start and toe the line with the other kids in our heat...

We had the afternoon off, but this seemed to coincide with jetlag hitting a bit. I was hoping to make it to a sheep farm (I hear that New Zealand has a few of those?) with some of my teammates, but I just did some work and napped instead, like most of the team. I've put in a request to everyone here to send me their top training tunes for this trip, so one of the next few posts will be the official USA 2010 WRC playlist! Get excited...

Successful First Day in NZ

After our epic journey, we landed safely and successfully in the Auckland International Airport. To be honest, the time zone change has been a little easier than I thought it might be, although I might be eating my words later. 80ish athletes, coaches, and team managers managed to make it through in one piece, with no fines (Immigration is notoriously strict here, with $400 fines levied if you don't declare monitored goods such as fruit or nuts) and no lost baggage. The WRC management team has been awesome, shepherding us around the security queues in the airport and really making sure that everything is taken care of.

After the 90-minute bus ride from the airport to Hamilton, the city our hotel is in, we dropped off our bags and grabbed some lunch before heading out to the course. It's about a 40-minute bus ride from our hotel to the course--mostly residential sections and farmland. I have yet to see any sheep, but there are plenty of cows around!

The course is beautiful--very picturesque and huge. Nearly all of the international courses I've raced on have been man-made, and the lake is huge. There are also huge grandstands, a huge staging area, and a huge warm-up area on the course--New Zealand is definitely doing the World Rowing Championships in a big way!

More to come tomorrow--I'll hopefully be able to get some video interviews with teammates and get the slideshow to cooperate. Thankfully, the internet here is working well, so I'll be able to update this more regularly than my Lucerne blog! For now, though, it's bedtime, so I'm signing off!

Packing: How to do NZ in under 50 pounds!

Packing started last week when I moved out of my apartment and back with a host family (the wonderful Fonsecas of Skillman, NJ!), but the real stuff started yesterday. We’re allowed to bring one 50-pound bag to New Zealand (we can bring more, but like everyone else, we have to pay bag fees), creating the eternal conundrum: how to pack for three weeks of two-three practices a day, weather ranging from 65 and sunny to 45 and raining, and also bring all the “extras” like sports drinks and a yoga mat?

The first time I went to Worlds, I was pretty excited to have remembered to bring socks. But by now, I have the routine down a little better. Packing enough for three days of practices plus two days of racing, and buying detergent and clothesline in the WRC host country, has served me pretty well. Still, it’s tricky when you want to bring your lucky sports bra and an extra pair of tights and a couple of books…it can add up!

Good luck to all the athletes packing up and traveling this week—may your suitcases be underweight and the airport security people generous about the definition of “carry-on size”!

Check out Take That's new rowing music video!

Featuring some good rowing and some...interesting rowing, the British band Take That's new music video for "The Flood" was filmed at and near the 2012 Olympic rowing venue, Dorney Lake. The singers (and body doubles) aren't racing boats you'd see at Worlds or the Olympics, though--the five-person sculling boats, or "quints", are perfect for their five-person band, but most rowers have never even seen that type of shell in person.

First all the rowing scenes in "The Social Network", and now music videos? Has rowing hit the mainstream?

Check out Robbie Williams and Take That's new single "The Flood" here.

Welcome to Esther Lofgren’s 2010 World Rowing Championship blog!

Welcome to my New Zealand World Rowing Championships blog! I’m Esther Lofgren, five-time US National Team member, and a member of the women’s eight. I’m posting this blog with the help of USRowing, the national governing body of rowing here in the US of A. You can see their coverage of regattas, videos, live webcasts, athlete bios, and much more at http://www.usrowing.org/.

I’ll be writing about our training leading up to the WRCs, what New Zealand’s like (most of us have never been!), and all the excitement of racing, both on the water and behind the scenes. I blogged for USRowing at the Lucerne World Cup in July (you can see that blog here: http://usrowinglucerne.blogspot.com/), and this time around, I hope to include much more media—short video interviews with teammates in every boat, photos, and (back by popular request) iTunes-linked music playlists!

Thanks for checking out my blog! If you want to see more blogs like this from rowers on the team, please show your support by logging in to follow this blog. Comments and feedback are absolutely appreciated!

Go USA!

-Esther