Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Women's Rowing Journal - Page Kannor
6/18/2008 8:00:00 AM | Women's Rowing
June 18, 2008
Three summers ago I sat in Coach Kish's office for the first time. I was a baby high school senior-to-be with about two days of rowing experience and an eagerness to embark on my collegiate journey. Coach asked me about myself, talked about Bucknell Women's Rowing, showed me photo albums, and told me about a trip to England the team takes every four years. He told me about the Royal Henley Regatta, and being on the Thames, and the program's history with the race. Now, today , after three years of recordbreaking rowing built onto the program's foundation, we're here again. It's been a good year -- not without its trials, of course -- and the team has pushed on past fall sculling, winter training, spring racing, and the championship season to summer rowing in an entirely different setting. After training hard all year (and especially in the early months of spring), coming to England has been quite the change. I assumed we'd have two or three practices a day like we would at home or in Georgia, so I was surprised at the amount of free time we've had to see surrounding cities, visit family, and explore the quaint town of Henley. All 20 women here still have a hefty responsibility, however: the catapault into next year, not to mention the future of our rowing program, rests on this trip. No pressure.
Despite having lots of leisure time, my favorite part so far of being here has probably been our row to Reading, a four-hour journey up the Thames through four locks and beautiful English countryside. We raced in the Reading Amateur Regatta the next day and won both the Senior and Elite events, but we returned to Henley that evening knowing we still had a lot of work to do. Coming back together after a successful season for one last hurrah has been both exciting and difficult: it's a challenge to focus and concentrate harder than ever as we work on our speed, but all 20 of us are eager to overcome that challenge and show what we're made of through this week and up to this weekend at the Henley Regatta. Wish us luck as we continue to make history for Bucknell Women's Rowing!
- Page Kannor '09
