No Complaints Here

Needless to say, it was an emotional day on the race course yesterday. After a pre-final night of biting fingernails, fidgeting in our seats, and feeble attempts to ignore the growing tension so that we may snag at least a couple hours of precious sleep (hours which, inevitably, were spent dreaming about what successes, or failures, tomorrow might bring), we did indeed arise rather well rested. Rested, but fully aware that the next few hours had the potential to bring some of the most monumental events of our rowing careers.
Pre-race time tends to bring out sides of one's crew mates that you would normally not ever see. This particular pre-race brought to the table levels of focus that would seem difficult to reach in any other situation. The gravity of all that lay behind, and even more so, ahead, weighed heavily on us all, forcing us to summon up strength and courage from very distant, and perhaps frightening, parts of ourselves. It may be argued that in the 30 minutes before the final at Henley, one can learn more about himself and his boatmates than he would ever have imagined. Welcome to the show.
They say to embrace the nerves that begin to take over during those agonizing minutes on the starting block. It doesn't seem to make very much sense, really. Everyone has experienced anxiety. Multiply by a hundred that normal, everyday, "I'm late for work!" tension, and stick it right down deep inside your core, and you may begin to see how massive a task it is to convince yourself that you need these nerves to perform at your optimum level. Well, I assure you, in this department we were not found wanting.
We rowed the race of our lives yesterday. We knew we would have to, and in that last split second between when the flag dropped, and when our bodies kicked into action, all that we had learned from our coaches, our teammates, and most importantly, ourselves, allowed us to do just that. We can confidently say that Eton did the exact same thing.
No one ever really rows a perfect race. Not even in the Princess Elizabeth Cup Final at Henley-On-Thames in Oxfordshire, England. What was perfect about our race yesterday was the desire, the will, and the courage in both lanes of the course. We could not have been beaten by a classier group of guys. As I'm sure they would say for us, it was our privilege to race a crew that demanded nothing short of their best performance.
July 3rd, 2005, was a day that we will remember for the rest of our lives. It has been our greatest pleasure to compete under the leadership of some of the best coaches around, and with the support of so, so many. We would like to deeply thank everyone for the incredible opportunities provided to us throughout this memorable season. Best of luck to Prep Crew in years to come.

Sincerely,

the St. Joesph's Prep Varsity 9, 2005

Mark DelGuercio, Pat Dewechter, Brad Adams, Andrew Golda, Mike Lombardi, Mike Gennaro, Matt McGowan, Kenny Ewell, and John Connolly

Two Words

FINALS BABY!

Saturday's Race Info

Today we are racing St. Paul's School (U.K.) at 6:20 PM, which is 1:20 PM on the east coast, USA.  We'll keep ya posted.

 

-KENNY

Day 11 (Race Day 3)

Hey guys whats up? It was a big day for us today in Henley.  The day was filled with anxiety and mostly waiting around.  Everyone woke up around 9 and we all sat around and watched Friday Night Lights.  The movie was great and everyone was getting pumped up and ready for the quarter-final race today.  After Friday Night Lights ended, we decided that we wanted to see some "blood-shed" and so we watched a little Kill Bill Vol. 2 and everyone was ready to go.
We got down to the race course and everyone was determined to accomplish what we had to do.  It was finally race time, and we were all ready to go.  Pangbourne College jumped us off the line rowing 47 strokes per minute and got to an early lead.  We kept edging down the race course at our base, 34 strokes per minute, and they were slowly losing their lead and then finally Mark called a move and we slowly started to walk through them.  We got up about half a boat or so and that margin stayed about the same and we came pass the finish line with a 4 feet margin victory.  
We are now one of the four crews left in our event, and we will take on either St. Xavier or St. Paul's School in the semi-finals tomorrow, depending on who comes out on top between the two later today.  Now we are just chilling and watching Braveheart.  You'll hear from us soon, later guys!

Matt McGowan

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Day 10 (Race Day 2)

Today is our tenth day 'cross the pond here in the town of Henley-on-Thames, and now with the sun just beginning to set behind the greenery in the Colemans' backyard I am on the family computer to update our Henley journal. While everyone here is getting ready for bed, all of you, our readers, are probably just getting home from work, or beginning to prepare dinner. Far from home we are, but the support we have been receiving from our Prep family has surely kept us connected to our roots, in the boathouse just south of Strawberry Mansion Bridge and we are very grateful for everyone's support. Now, onto the events that took place on 30 June 2005.

Today we woke up around 9:30 and performed our pre-race morning rituals: brushing teeth, eating breakfast (bagels, cereals, nothing too heavy), throwing our crimson unisuits in our backpacks, and in today's case, putting on a few extra layers for the cool weather that met us in the early hours of the day. We left the house in our Europcar around 10:15, taking into account the recent increase in morning traffic, as we generally plan to be in the boat tent about 90 minutes before race time. We shoved around 11:20 after stretching out and doing our daily sit-ups (200 of 'em!). For the second day in a row, we experienced sitting at the line next to a single crew, waiting for the umpire's launch to arrive so he could go over the starting commands with us in nothing less than a distinguished British accent: "When I see that both crews are aligned and ready, I will start you like this: Attention, GO!" We won our race today against Bedford Modern, but we all agreed that we didn't go our fastest. Woebegone, we decided to take a short swing row later in the afternoon during the Tea Break to sharpen up a bit. After our sharpening session, we were all more confident in our potential to reach our maximum speed. Needless to say, it went well. We will race at 2:40 PM tomorrow against Pangbourne College.

I've just been told that I have to get up to bed, so I'll leave you with a bit of information on our boat. Our boat is a rental, so there is no name on it. We have decided as a boat to name it after our classmates who have passed away during our time at the Prep, Patrick F. Monaghan and T. Patrick Byrnes. The boat name will read:

P.F.M. - T.P.B. '05

We will keep you posted. Look for another update tomorrow, 1 July 2005.

YEAH PREP!

-KENNY

In The News

The Philadelphia Inquirer:
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/sports/12018370.htm

Prep's eight advances at Henley
The Hawks began by routing their London opponents.
COMPILED BY THE INQUIRER

The St. Joseph's Prep varsity eight won its first race yesterday in the Henley Royal Regatta and advanced to today's second round.
Competing for the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup, the Hawks defeated the Emanuel School of London by more than 41/2 boat lengths in Henley-on-Thames, England.
The Hawks' time was 7 minutes even on the 2,112-meter course.
If the Prep wins today against the Bedford Modern School of Bedford, England, it will advance to tomorrow's quarterfinals. The semifinals are scheduled for Saturday, and the final will take place Sunday.
"We had some opening-round jitters, some anxiety, so we didn't get off to a good start," coach Bill Lamb said. "But once we settled in, we got better, and I expect a better race [today]."
The Prep boat is made up of coxswain Mark DelGuircio and rowers Pat Dewechter, Brad Adams, Andrew Golda, Mike Lombardi, Mike Gennero, Matt McGowan, Ken Ewell and John Connelly.
The Hawks' varsity eight won the Henley championship in 2000.
One of two quads from Malvern Prep will compete today for the Frawley Challenge Cup.

The London Times:

"St Joseph’s Preparatory School, from Philadelphia in the United States, looked likely lads in the top half of the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup eights with a young crew, two only 15, whose greatest threat in their first race seemed to be the umpire, who warned them continually for the first two minutes. Eton and Abingdon showed their expected pedigree in the bottom half."
-Thanks to Prep commenter for bringing this to our attention.

Also of interest:
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/columnists/12020372.htm

Thursday's Race

Hey guys.  We just received a call from coach, and we now have all the info about our race tomorrow.  We're going to be racing Bedford School (British) at 12:05 PM.  We'll keep you posted.

 

YEAH PREP!

 

-KENNY

Day 9 (Race Day 1)

     Last night at dinner we sat and listened to Coach Lamb talk. Usually we listen to him talk anyway but this topic was different. It was about the side effects of winning and losing over here in England. It's all so realistic, more realistic then we think. The loss can hit us any second and end the season, but its our decision whether we keep rowing or not.

     After dinner we went to bed early, and woke up at around 7 am. We sat in the Coleman's living room and listened to music, just getting ready. Every now and then something inspirational was said by a rower or a coach. The butterflies entered our stomachs.

     We left the house and headed to the venue. When we got there it was different then any other practice day, more people, nicer outfits, more chairs and seating, etc. We all stretched and got ready to go, and listened to Coach Lamb's pre-race speech. We all decided we were gonna have fun when we went out there, and if we were to go down, we were going "to go down swinging." It all helped get rid of some of the butterflies.

     We shoved and warmed up, practiced some starts, and before we knew it we were sitting at the line. We've heard that they make you sit at the line for awhile before your race starts, but we got there late, so we only had to sit around for a few minutes.

     The race started and we jumped Emanuel, and got a healthy lead. The butterflies flew away and we started having some fun. We took a power ten specifically for Mike Lombardi and Drew Golda. On that first stroke of the ten, the boat was picked up and it flew. We all backed up Mike and Drew, and we walked ahead some more.

     With such a big lead, and with four more days of racing, Mark and Pat began calling down the rate, for the purpose of not using all of our energy. Over the course of a few minutes, we dropped down our rate but kept the same pressure, and we rowing at about 29spm. As we came up to the stands, Mark yelled "Do you hear that??" And the next thing we hear is our St. Joe's Prep fan club yelling "GO PREP GO!" Then we walked ahead some more.

     The stands area lasts for about the final 30 strokes of the race, and even if they don't know who's racing, they'll yell. The noise was loud and it gets you fired up. Then we walked some more. We finished the race at 7 minutes flat, and a victory margin of what they call here "E." The "E" stands for "easily won." (Anything over about 4 boat lengths)

     We warmed down and docked, and the Emanuel crew was right there and we shook their hands. As we walked the boat to the boat tent, the Prep Crew Family that is here cheered, and then we met with them after getting changed. We hung around the venue for a little while longer to watch St. Xavier race. (They won).

     Afterwards we all left and now we're here at the Coleman's, watching Family Guy, and mentally/physically preparing for tomorrows race. (Victim unknown at this point). You'll be hearing from us after tomorrow's race. Go Prep!

                                                        Mike Gennaro

 

 

 P.S.-  Hi  Ms. Brown.

Day 8

We woke up a little bit later than we did yesterday, and treated it exactly as we will be treating the first day of racing which is tomorrow. Instead of taking our daily run to practice we all got a ride in our "Europcar." We got to the venue and stretched and did our exact race day warm up. Then we met at the starting line at rehearsed our rac plan. We did our starting sequence, then paddled to the midway point and took 15 strokes at base rating, then paddled some more to the mile and one-eigth marker where we did our closing sprint. We did very well today and our prepared to race hard against Emanuel School tomorrow in the opening round of the regatta.

After our practice we stopped home real quick so we could grab our money then go into town for a little while to run some errands. Some hit the bookstore and others went into the sporting good store to get rugby balls, before we all met atthe Anchor for lunch. Our interest in rugby came when we were watching a match a few days ago where the Us National team defeated the Candadians 20-19.

We got home from lunch and hung around for a little untill Coach Schwaryn and Coach Mingle arrived, followed by our parents and families, who we haven't seen for a week now. It was nice to see our families and have that short visit, and after that we had our dinner. At dinner Coach Lamb spoke of the importance of this particular dinner compared to the rest. It's our first before a race, but it could also be our last. We realized the importance of each race and not to underestimate any opponent, and that being nervous is a good thing. Tomorrow will be a tough day of racing, but if we do what we know how to do then there should be many more exciting blog entries.

Looking forward to wrinting again,

Brad Adams

Day 7

Day 7 started off on a rough note with an early morning practice with Trinity College from Hartford, Connecticut. We did an opening 1/4 mile of the race and the closing 1/2 mile of the race and neither piece was our best. Right after we got off of the water, we all weighed in. The weight is measured in stones, and one stone is equal to fourteen pounds. John weighed 11 stones 6 lbs, Ken was 12 stones 4 lbs, Matt was 12 stones 10 lbs, Mike G. was 11 stones 9 lbs, Mike L. was 14 stones, Drew was 13 stones 1 lb, Brad was 12 stones 1 lb, Pat was 13 stones 10 lbs, and Mark was 8 stones 3 lbs, but he needed to be 8 stones 9 lbs, so he is currently in the process of gaining weight.After the morning practice, we went food shopping again, except this time in our unisuits. I don't think that I have ever seen more junk food in my life, nor have I ever seen as many granola bars. On the bright side, we hide the Doritos and Pringles behind a wall of Nutrigrain bars. Once we got home and the food was stashed away, we had our rousing games of croquet and hit some golf balls into the woods, maybe some people's houses, I'm not really sure. Then we went off to our next practice.Our second practice of the day was focused on technique and we gradually fixed our problems through the practice until we finally got it right on the last power 20 of the night. We came home to a delicious dinner as always and then hit the hay pretty early because we had a race day rehearsal the next morning, so we all wanted to be completely rested.

Hot Jazz.

Mike Lombardi

Day 6

Day 6:

Today we only had one late practice so most of us slept in until after noon. During the afternoon, we had our usual game or two of croquet. A couple of us stayed inside and came upon an "amazing" singing horse quartet online.

We had a really good steady state row during the evening. Everyone seemed to be focused and the boat was moving well. Our row was followed up by a later than usual dinner, but good regardless. We had Coach Lamb's favorite dessert (sorry, I forget what it is called).

The atmosphere around the house has been relaxed. We have had a lot of down time, in which most of us either sleep, eat, play a little croquet (I know this is sounding repetitive but its what we have been doing), or go online.

The atmosphere down at the racecourse is becoming much more excited. Many more crews are out on the Thames. The boat tent seems just about full and there is definitely more activity just in the general area. It also seems like some spectators are coming down (or up) the Thames by boat and mooring along the side of the river. The number of boats has slowly gotten bigger each day.

I've noticed that rowing on the Thames is kinda like putting on a show. Many people, as we row by, seem to stop what they are doing and turn around to watch us. Now I know most of these people are probably coaches trying to scout out how good St. Joe's Prep is, but regardless I want to look my best, and I am sure the rest of the boat feels the same way. We all know that we need to perform at our highest level and I think we have learned that in order to perform at this level, that we just need to execute what we know best, because that is what has gotten us this far.

Sorry this update is 2 days late. Day 7 and 8 will follow soon. We hope all the parents arrive safely! Go Prep!

True.

Drew Golda

Day 5

     Day 5 was here and now it's gone. We picked up some new activities to do in our spare time other than croquet. But first the rowing. We had an early practice yesterday, we woke up and took our daily warm-up run to the race course. Coach Lamb said we were going to do the workout by ourselves, which was a whole course piece. (30 spm off the line, 26 spm for the body of the race, 30 spm at the end). Just before we were about to shove, he said that Yale's Women's 8 might be meeting us up at the line, and that they were going to do the piece at open ratings.

     We didn't know what to think, the thought of losing to girls was in the back of our minds but we were positive they wouldn't beat us (their coach even said so). We warmed up and got to the line, and there they were, 9 women, from Yale, in spandex, 10 ft. away from us (it was hard to focus on the piece). But we went off the line, and we jumped them, then pushed away, and the final margin was about 8 boat lengths with our first whole course victory on the river. Then we thanked them and wished them good luck.

     After our workout we decided we had to paint our oars. A handful of us walked home, and the rest stayed to help out with the oars.

     We all met back up at the house and just hung around, some napped, some played croquet, some watched a movie. And at about late afternoon about 6 of us went to City Hall to watch the draw to see who we would race in the first round (Emanuel).

     While almost everyone was at the draw, Brad, John, and I represented the USA in a game of croquet vs. 10 guys/girls from Exeter. I won't lie, these guys were pretty awesome at this game, and our big American mouths couldn't trash talk our way out of it. We came in fourth (out of 4), which means even the girls team beat us, and we cheated too. But they said they would be back, and we won't embarass America like that again, it was pretty awful.

     After the Exeter rowers left, we went back to hanging around the house, and Mr. Coleman said he had a new game for us to play. So he came outside with a baseball bat, and a bucket full of golf balls (yes, it's exactly what you're thinking). He said his garden ran back a long way and at the very bottom was a driving range, so he likes to collect the golf balls that get hit in his yard, and hit them back. This is what a lot of teenagers wish they could do around their neighborhood but never have enough room too. So we were cautious at first, but then John Connolly took a swing and cracked the furthest one we've seen so far.

     We all took turns, just whacking these golf balls down this garden, Pat Dewechter had some hits that gave John a run for his money, and Mike Lombardi had some good ones. After we emptied the bucket, we ran and collected as many balls as we could find and then ate dinner.

     Dinner was hamburgers and chicken, which was delicious, with a dessert of cheese cake. Afterwards we were all planning on going to the movies but decided not to, so some of us walked around the town for a bit, observing the nightlife, while the rest just sat around at the house.

     We all took advantage of not having a practice this morning and slept in long and hard. Right now some are still sleeping, some are hitting more golf balls, a few eating breakfast, and we haven't seen Coach Lamb since yesterday before the draw. We have practice again at 6, so you'll all be hearing from us again soon. Later days.

Day 4

So it's 10:15 PM here in Oxfordshire, and I'm currently making our third attempt to successfully update the Henley page. A 20 minute sacrifice of sleep that I am more than willing to make...
About 12 hours ago, the crew arrived rather well rested indeed after an evening full of croquet (something new...), and a much-needed long night's sleep. With only one practice planned for today, due to the qualifying races that would occur later in the afternoon, we decided to kick our practice time back to 10:30. Needless to say, we all took full advantage of the opportunity by sleeping in as long as we possibly could. One lap up and down the course proved that the extra rest did the job, as we left the water having succeeded in our mission to lay down a good, sharp, focused, but "not necessarily all that long" row. Some ominous cloud cover, a few bolts of lightening, a couple thunder claps, and we decided to call it a day on the water.
After three absolutely outstanding days weather-wise, the rain didn't dampen our spirits one bit...eliciting commments like, "A little English rain never hurt anybody..." and, "Dude, this is perfect nap weather..." So with our new-found free time, and a perfect opportunity to bust out our spiffy new Prep Henley rain jackets, we hit the streets of Henley-on-Thames after a quick run through the local Henley Regatta Shop ("Yo, check outthese keychains..." "Do you have this t-shirt in a large?" "How much are the sunglasses?").
Starving, we got changed back at the Coleman's, and then headed down town to grab some local pizza (which was excellent, by the way...Francesco's is the place to go, for those of you heading out here next week). We then broke into a couple groups and did a thorough tour of the local sites (stores, restaurants, and, of course, sites of the female variety). The rain took a break around the 5 o'clock hour, and some of us took the opportunity to make the not-so-long walk back to the Coleman's to hang out for a few before dinner. A couple guys (Mike G., John, Mike L., and Brad), swung down to the river to catch some of the qualifying races, while the rest of us caught a nap, played some croquet, or read (of course, after having made acquaintances with the Coleman's daughter, Susanna, and a number of her friends).
As has been frequently the case, dinner time brought some of the best laughter of the day, including a search for the 'Mr. Smith' of the table (an exchange spurred on by Mr. Coleman, which can be described as nothing short of hilarious), and a rather emotional challenge by Mark Del of Rock, Paper, Scissors (our second favorite pasttime, next to croquet...) directed towards none other than Coach Lamb himself. Dinner was followed by dessert, some relaxation...and then, due to the impending "big day" on the race course tomorrow, we skipped the croqute to hit the sack early this evening......Except for me. Well, here I am at 10:40, and I'm already 5 minutes over my quota. Like I said...a sacrifice well-made. All's great at the Coleman residence this evening. Spirits high, and bellies full. Even better stuff to come.

G'night,
Pat Dewechter

Day 3

Hey there everyone,
After our wonderful pasta dinner last night, a few of us played a quick game of croquet then went right to bed. We had a tough morning on the river. We took our warm up run to the venue and met up with the Yale Lightweight 8 and did a whole course piece with them at set ratings (30 spm off the line, settle into 26 spm, and finished the peice at a 30). We jumped them off the start and had a healthy lead, but they took a sick move and walked right through us. Even though they won the peice, it turned out to be a successful morning and we took another step further.
We shook hands with the Yale guys and then headed home and ate lunch. When we got home, everyone went their own way. Some slept, some ate, some played croquet. Drew and Ken sat on the computer and worked on this blog, while John, Lombardi, Brad, Matt, and I played some more croquet (it gets addicting).
Everyone met together later on that afternoon for our second practice, which turned out to be harder than the first. Coach Lamb set up our practice with the Cal Frosh 8 (IRA Champs). We did a handful of pieces with them (20 strokes on, 45 sec off, 30 strokes on, 60 sec off) all the way down the course twice. Cal beat us all the way down the course on the first set, then Coach Lamb pulled us aside and gave us some pointers. We then paddled back up river and did the second set, and it was a lot better.
It was a mess on the second set. There were boats all down the course, and the Cal kids started yelling, and we started yelling, it was all in good fun. Finally we barely beat them on the last piece of the day, then shook their hands.
We met with Coach Lamb and he told us how much better we got just by that row. The Cal crew is really good and they should perform well in the regatta. We took another step forward towards the PE Cup.
We headed home to the Coleman household and sat around making a grocery list before dinner (which included arguments and disagreements). Coach Lamb told us we have a long row tomorrow morning, but we have off in the afternoon, on account of some qualifing races down at the venue. We'll all be down there watching and let you know how it goes. Later Days.

Mike Gennaro (4 seat)

Picture Site

We created a webshots account.  You can view the pictures we've been taking at http://community.webshots.com/user/henley2005.  Enjoy!

 

-Kenny

Day Two

Practicing on the Thames River.

Hey guys. Today is our first full day, and we're (almost) adjusted to the 5 hour time difference between Philadelphia and Henley-on-Thames. England is absolutely gorgeous. The houses on the Thames (pronounced 'tems') are quaint, unlike anything in the States. We had practice around 10AM, followed by a shopping spree at the grocery store where we grabbed a bunch of water and Lucozade Sport (the English equivalent of Gatorade). The family we're staying with (The Colemans) have a really nice, open backyard, so after lunch we played a few rousing games of shirtless croquet in the backyard. We'll be leaving for practice in a bit. The course is only about a mile from the Colemans' house, so we run down there together. Tomorrow morning we'll be racing down the entire course against the Yale Varsity Lightweight Eight, with rates capped at 26 and then 30 later in the piece. By the way - leave some comments if you're following us!

Later on,
Kenny Ewell

St. Joe's Prep Arrives Safely in England

Members of the St. Joseph's Prep Varsity 8 arrived safely this morning in England. Under the coaching guidance of head coach Bill Lamb and assistant coaches Andy Kelly and Matt Ruggles, coxwain Mark Delguercio, and rowers including Pat Dewechter, Brad Adams, Drew Golda, Mike Lombardi, Mike Gennaro, Matt McGowan, Ken Ewell, and John Connolly, began training at Henley on the Thames late this afternoon.

Recap of Day 1:

Let me first say that England is absolutely awesome. The whole feel of the area is so different from the United States.

Our flight from Newark felt long. It was around 5 1/2 hours long. Most of us got little or no sleep. We left Newark a little after nine o'clock at night and arrived in England a little before nine in the morning.

After checking our passports and getting our baggage, we rented a van and drove to the race course to drop off the oars (yes, we were able to bring them on the flight) and a trunk full of odds and ends for the boat.

The boat tent is huge and kinda smells like a Home Depot inside. There are 18 bays and 16 racks in each bay. The entire thing is covered and even has bathrooms and a dressing area. According to Coach Lamb, he said that it can get pretty full. We are borrowing a bright yellow V1 from Vespoli, which will be sold to an Engligh crew after the regatta.

We went to lunch at a family owned restaurant in the town called the Anchor Inn. This restaurant is the same place that the '99 Henley Crew ate most of their meals.

The Colemen's house is great. It is only 5 minutes by car (10 minute run). It has enough room for everyone and a backyard big enough to set up some pretty awesome croquet courses. Me, Pat, Ken, John, and Mark are all on the top floor. On the second floor, Mike, Mike, Matt, and Brad are sharing a room.

In order to get used to the time difference as quick as possible, we were told that we shouldn't sleep until we were going to bed for the night. That made for a really long day, but most of us were so excited about being there that even though we were tired, we kept going and made it.

The town, Henley-on-Thames, is absolutely beautiful. Every building is unique and has a hint of old world English charm. It is nothing like the United States with all the mass produced stores all over the place. The streets are windy with roundabouts and there seem to be a lot of small shops.

After practice, we went back to the Colemen's house for dinner. We are called to dinner by a bell and all gather around a large dining table. For dinner, e had Mediterranean Chicken, potatoes, green beans, bread, and peach crumble and ice cream for dessert. Mrs. Coleman is an excellent cook and we were warned that we might gain a little bit of weight over here (which isn't really a problem for a heavyweight crew). Mr. and Mrs. Coleman are great hosts. They really know and care a lot about the sport of crew and make sure that every rower they have in their house is fed and comfortable.

The weather has been really nice here. Its been in the upper 80's which is uncommon here. Later on this week I think it is supposed to rain and get cooler (back to typical English weather).

We will try and update this blog daily. Feel free to leave comments...we would love to hear from everyone back in the States! Also check for our webshots photo albums. Thank you for all your support. Go Prep!

-Drew Golda