[RJC 01] national indoor rowing c'ships 2004


WE DID IT!


WE ACHIEVED WHAT WE SET OUT TO DO FROM THE VERY START.
WE SAID WE WOULDN'T SETTLE FOR ANYTHING LESS THAN FIRST PLACE
AND LOOK, HERE WE ARE.
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to my first rower and newfound friend, shuyi:
thanks dude! you were awesome! it's been a pleasure getting to know you too. now you're no longer one of the faceless, nameless entities of rj but someone i actually know and appreciate. you provided our team with a great start and hey, you didn't fall off your seat either! thanks so much man.

especially for my second rower, beloved k2 partner and fab pal, leqi:
oh god what can i say. you were wonderful. thanks for the psychological and physical support! you're always there when i need you. i absolutely love rowing with you. let's translate our success here into similar ones on the water! sdba in three weeks let's show the world what we're made of. we can do it we're gonna thrash nj. have faith (and more protein bars haha). i love you.

and this goes out to my fourth rower and great friend, philip:
hey man! okay there's nothing i can say that you don't already know. you were fantastic. you single-handedly maneuvered us into first place. i admire your fighting spirit! and thanks for getting us all so psyched up. you're the one who had the belief that we'd be able to clinch the title and not just settle for second best. thanks for the motivation. keep the spirit alive for sdba and nationals!

well,RJC01, we truly lived up to our name. it's been an honour rowing with you, shuyi. you, leqi. and you, philip. thanks once again.




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man i'm dead on my feet after an entire day of machine rowing! only found out that i was entered in the indiv1000m race at 4am this morning. not surprisingly, i was unable to go back to sleep after that. wasn't really prepared for the 1000m as i hadn't rowed anything close to that amount since the totaldefence day race. and i only realised that i hadn't adjusted my resistance until 4 seconds to start! awful! was leading for first 500m but wasn't able to sustain and dropped to 3rd. oh well. anyway i managed to better my timing by 4seconds, to 4:04min. wasn't really chionging for 1000m, conserving precious energy for the mixed relay later.

which was a good idea.

heats were not bad. we managed to sustain a pretty decent lead throughout the race which was good. finished with a timing of 7:08min. managed to slash our previous timing by 22sec! marvelous huh. and gao shang took nice pictures of us rowing! woohoo.

finals were awesome, courtesy of philip. in second place throughout from the start, till the last 500m where philip just gave it his all and shot us past the throwers to first position. we definitely couldn't have done it without him. the feeling of capturing the title was exhilarating, pure ecstasy, something i want over and over again.

leqi and i were absolutely euphoric! took lots of pictures that i'll post someday when she sends them to me. great day. got so much more than i bargained for. rj totally dominated the entire competition haha. i mean, 16 rj teams contrasted with a smattering of teams from other schools! rather amusing, really. makes us seem super-enthusiastic.

well it was a great time to get to know others better as well as a time to bond with the canoeists. thanks everyone who was cheering us on, and huilin i admire your strength and tenacity to row out that agonizing 2000m! wonderful senior you are. thanks especially to qing and xy who came down to support us! gosh i owe you two a big treat! hey tell me when you guys are free yeah. we need to do a spot of catching-up as well! went out with brandon chengshi shuyi and leqi after that, caught "along came polly" before leaving for home.

good job to all the fellow rj rowers! the trackers, throwers, shuttlers, air rifle ppl, odac ppl, ssc ppl and all else... and in particular the canoeists, the people i've truly gone through thick and thin with. let's go all out for SDBA! three weeks to the championships. only a couple more trainings left... let's make the most out of them!



we're not just going there to compete
we're going to WIN!