against the big boys

We had our fixture against the Tideway Scullers (aka Great Eight) yesterday.  I dont have time to write much, but it went pretty darn well.  Lining up against Iztok Cop, accompanied by other top scullers in the world, was, surprisingly, not that intimidating.  As we lined up, I couldnt help but think: "just about every rower in the world would love to be in my shoes right now".  What an incredible opportunity to race against these guys!  

We did two pieces against them, over the first 7 minutes of the Boat Race course.  We beat them off the line handily, achieving a half length lead in the first 500m.  They responded, then we responded, and eventually won the piece by about a length.  The next piece, we tried the same tactics, but they put in an aggressive "throw the kitchen sink" move at about 3 minutes in.  We took a bit too long to respond, and were unable to make up the margin towards the end, losing the piece by about a half length.  

Afterwards, we had dinner with the scullers, which was surprisingly fun.  They are generally pretty easy-going guys, although they are also very very intense under the surface.  Highlights of the fixture:

- getting the evil eye on the start line from Marcel Hacker

-Iztok's little girls were obsessed with my mullet, and kept sneaking up behind me to play with it.

- Olaf Tufte (two time gold medallist) telling crazy stories from his younger days

- Andre Synek telling me in a thick czech accent: "yes it go good.  I pull very hard."

here are some photos, and there are some mere at http://dodsworld.ifp3.com/site/#/gallery/cubc-v-tss-great8/

Olaf Tufte preying on our coxswain.