Bucknell University Athletics
Bison Rowing Blog: Postcards from Henley
6/14/2022 11:44:00 AM | Women's Rowing
The Bucknell rowing team embarked on its overseas tour on Sunday, June 12, and over the next 12 days the group will be training, competing, and sightseeing in England and Switzerland. The highlight of the trip from a competitive standpoint will be the famed Henley Women's Regatta on the River Thames from June 17-19. Each day throughout the trip, a different Bison rower will be writing a diary and sending back photos to share with Bison Nation. Enjoy!
Guten Tag! We have unfortunately reached the final journal entry of this spectacular trip. I am traveling separately from the team today, as I am joining my family in Germany for a few days before heading home. This morning Todd Newcomb, our Senior Associate Director of Athletics, and Rayna Murphy, our athletic trainer, and I awoke bright and early (it actually was not that bright out yet) to head to the airport at 4:50 a.m. Todd and Rayna were kind enough to help me get to the airport safely. We met in the lobby and began to roll our suitcases to the train station which was about one mile away from our hostel where we were staying. I use the term “roll” lightly because both Rayna and Todd were missing at least two wheels each on their suitcases from our initial walk to the hostel from the train a few days ago. We were really just dragging our suitcases to the train station. Once we arrived, we found our train and soon after began the one-hour train ride to the airport. The rest of the team and coaches began their journey to the train station at 6:00 a.m. I wasn’t with them, but I can imagine some more suitcase wheels were lost along the way.
On the train, we were reminiscing about our favorite parts of the trip. I found it hard to choose because having the opportunity to travel with my team made everything feel so special and fun. This experience was filled with so many moments that I will remember for the rest of my life. I am so grateful to everyone who supported making this trip possible and to have been a part of it. I will cherish the memories forever.
After arriving at the airport, I checked my bag, said goodbye to Todd and Rayna and headed to security. Once through security I swiftly found a coffee shop and headed to my gate to wait for boarding at 8:40 a.m. I took a lovely little nap as I waited to board my flight which was delayed but only by 30 minutes. Once boarding the plane, I took the quick flight from Zurich to Luxembourg where my dad picked me up and drove me to meet up with my sister and mom. I am now enjoying time with family and friends for a few days before heading back to New York.
I want to thank everyone who has followed along with us on this amazing trip. It truly is an experience I will remember for a lifetime. As a senior, this was such a special few days spent with my teammates and coaches, who have all been such important people in my time at Bucknell. Below I have included a few of my favorite photos. Thank you again for all the support!
‘ray Bucknell
- Natalie Kreusch
DAY 11: Hayden Groves
Hi, I’m Hayden, and I will be doing today’s journal entry. Today definitely marked on of the highlights of our trip. We woke up around 7 a.m. to start our day and get breakfast before heading towards Mount Pilatus. It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to and would definitely recommend to anyone looking for a fun adventure with amazing views. We started off with a ferry, which sailed through the blue water of Lake Lucerne. After we arrived to the Pilatus port, we hopped off and got in line for our up-hill train, which honestly was sort of terrifying due to the fact it was traveling at a 48 percent incline. We took nearly every mode of transportation there is today!
After that, we hopped off and looked around at the peaks of the mountain and took many team pictures. Then we got lunch atop the mountain, which was quite fun. After some more exploring and perusing at the gift shop, we headed back down via gondola. Perhaps not the best activity for those afraid of heights. When we arrived, we we’re going to take a second gondola down towards the base camp, but we took a slight detour and did the luge (aka an alpine slide, aka a tobagan ride). I guess it has many names, but it was this awesome slide where you hurl down the mountain on a small track. So fun! Definitely one of my highlights of this trip.
After the fun, we left and went on towards the second gondola, which led to the basecamp where we caught a bus back to Lucerne. After yesterday’s fun I thought it would be pretty hard to beat, but this day also was so fun! We got onto the bus, and beware of busses in Switzerland, they will jolt and rock you like no other. Many of us almost took a tumble in the bus as we were standing. After Caroline, Chloe and I headed into town to buy a few more Swiss goods before we depart tomorrow morning, we proceeded to dinner. We had another fun and delicious team dinner, and after we finished we went downtown for some gelato. After heading back to the hostel, we ended the night with an evening swim in the lake.
Switzerland has been a blast, and if anyone has ever thought of traveling here, I would definitely recommend.
-Hayden
DAY 10: Georgia Lambrakis
Hi BUWR fans, it’s Georg here coming at you live from where this story all begins – the top of my bunk bed. This morning I woke up at around 6:40 a.m. to my ‘by the seaside’ alarm. If you’re a fan of being awoken by a blaring car alarm or an air horn, I cannot stand behind those choices. I prefer a calm, peaceful start to my day, but some people really choose violence. I quickly crawled down the ladder of my bunk bed, and the temperature immediately dropped 10 degrees as I reached the floor. Something to know about me is that I’m always overheating, but I’m not exaggerating this time when I say it was a sauna on that top bunk.
This morning we were heading to Rotsee to row on the course there, so I threw some rowing clothes on, slipped my water bottle into my bag, forgot my seat pad and of course secured my severely dented and scratched Oakleys onto my head. Perfect.
I strolled down the stairs at around 6:59 a.m. (classic) and met the rest of my team outside of our hostel. We then began our 45-minute trek to the boathouse. I met up with my pair partner, Chloe, at the back of the pack, the caboose rather, and we both popped in one AirPod and switched on our pair pre-race playlist. Of course, it’s only fair to include some of the gems we listen to so that readers can enjoy our pre-race vibes as well.
Chloe and Georgia approved music:
M.C.K by Group Project
Twice by J. Hutton (fan favorite)
Hold Choke by Bad Pony
Space Ghost Coast to Coast by Glass Animals
Black Summer by RHCP
Big Bites by Del Water Gap
Johnny wants to fight by Badflower (fan favorite)
Motel 6 by River Whyless
Speaking off the record by Hotel Mira
The following is a real-time, live account of the walk:
“Can you imagine being in a boat that you didn’t have to push around yourself?” Chloe mumbles.
“What?” I say back, very confused.
“We are going on a gondola tomorrow. Aren’t those boats that move by themselves?” Chloe asked.
I tried to not laugh at my friend’s hilarious confusion.
“No dude, I’m like pretty sure gondolas are those glass objects attached to wires in the mountains.”
“No, I’m like sure they are boats,” Chloe responded.
I was right. Chloe was wrong. Thanks, Google.
According to my notes from today it started to drizzle at exactly 7:26 a.m., the 1/3 point of our walk as we stopped for breakfast. I asked the women working the counter what was inside two different pastries and was met with two words in German. I’m not sure what I really expected there. Unfortunately, my one month of German on Duolingo did not prepare me for this, so I went with the second option. Luckily it was very good.
When we arrived at the course I was shocked by just how beautiful it was. The water was perfectly clear, and the alps towered over the lake, which lay tucked between its arches.
Today was the day my duties as the alternate port of the V8 were finally being put to use. Since Liz headed home for her internship, I was finally given an opportunity to fulfill my purposes. We met Ludo, one of the workers at the boathouse, and carried a shiny lime-green Empacher to the water. After a short row down the gorgeous course, I hot seated into the pair off the dock called ‘Honey Badger’. To my surprise, I was stroking which really gave me the opportunity to enjoy the row and not have to focus so much on steering the boat. Chloe and I took a couple power 15s trying to beat out another pair on the river. Chloe and I have been through a crazy few weeks in this boat, and it felt bitter sweet to end our time in it in such a beautiful place. I reflected on the highs and lows on our row back to the dock. No better place to dissociate than staring at the Alps, I’ll tell you that first hand.
At lunch I sat with Chloe, Kona and Kate who ate pancakes and something called the unproblematic (a bread bowl with jam and butter), while I opted for scrambled eggs. Scenery was unbeatable, the eggs were delicious. A 9/10 meal
We were set free until dinner time, so Chloe and I walked back to the hostel to change
and shower before heading out on the town to do some shopping. We headed into a chocolate shop and I made a beeline for the assortment of Lindor truffles. Leave it to me to be in Switzerland, the chocolate Mecca of the world, and buy myself chocolate I can get in America for cheaper. But don’t judge, chocolate is expensive, and my per diem doesn’t exactly cover chocolate expenses. Chloe and I also shoved ourselves in a dressing room the size of a broom closet to try on clothes at H&M – another thing we could very well find in America, but nonetheless.
This is starting to get kind of long. The back cover version of the evening is as follows:
Swim, bridge jumping, dinner with Ollie’s family, fondue, BREAD, thunder, all male choir.
**If you’d like to know more, please read on.**
After our day of shopping we headed back to our hostel and went down to the beach right across the street. Chloe, Ollie and I enjoyed the water and even jumped off a bridge a few times. My fear of heights had me sweating, but I’m too proud to not jump off a bridge if all my friends are. Sorry mom.
After the adventures I headed out to dinner with Ollie and her parents. Ollie was the coxswain of the 2V, and as the stroke, I had the pleasure of staring at her face for 5 months which brought us to be rather close. Now I was staring at her face in Switzerland … good scenery change. We sat at a beautiful restaurant with arches that looked outside and ate fondue, salmon tartar and veal, finishing the courses off with a chocolate lava cake (sorry about the picture, I have little patience). To my excitement since bread is my all-time favorite food, there was a self-service cut-your-own bread station at the restaurant. Ollie and I were too American for the situation, pushing a beaded curtain aside and furiously cutting into a loaf of sourdough while I man-handled a baguette which fell out of the wicker basket towards my head. A rather chaotic experience. It started to pour rain so badly the umbrellas outside started to blow away, and thunder crashed so loud the entire restaurant screamed. 10/10 dinner, 11/10 company, 6/10 weather.
Besides the crazy views of Lucerne skyline after a storm on our walk home, we encountered an all-male choir in a little practice room and just stood there staring at them for like 10 minutes. They seemed nervous, so we sadly walked away. Sitting in Chloe’s bed we had a phone call with our pairs coach to go over our row in Lucerne and discuss pair rowing in the future (a topic I’m very interested in).
As I sit here writing this, I realize it’s very late and I wrote a lot more than I had intended to. Sorry about the long read. I hope it was somewhat interesting. Tomorrow we will hike and spend one final day in this beautiful town. It’s all bittersweet, but I have been so lucky to be the spare. If emojis were able to be included on this page, I’d place the face with smoke out of his nose right about here.
Cheers,
Georg
DAY 9: Juliette Gaggini
When I awoke to my alarm this morning at 6:15 a.m. I was conflicted, as I felt both exhausted from our extravagant 12-mile trek across London yesterday as well as excited for a day of traveling to … Switzerland! Though I may be partly biased, as a Swiss myself, I could not wait to start traveling en Suisse! Luckily for me, I will get to spend some time with my grandma and aunt who live in Switzerland during our stay! I do not get to see them very often, so it is super cool that I can see them on our trip. After barely managing to zip my suitcase, the voyage began at approximately 7 a.m. as we loaded the taxis and were off to the airport.
Upon arriving to the airport, we made our way through baggage check and security swimmingly, except of course for Coach Carter, who managed to lose (and later find) both her driver’s license and her vaccine card in the process. Once we made it through we got breakfast and roamed around the shops for a while. Luckily, we made it to the gate with just enough time to spare as we had been at the airport for a mere four hours.
The flight took off around noon and lasted a little over an hour. Many necessary naps were taken, many books were read, and everyone (except for Carb due to necessary nut allergy precautions) snacked on the complimentary Swiss chocolate! Soon enough we touched down in Switzerland, made it through customs, all managed to find our luggage, snacked on pretzels, and boarded the train to Lucerne.
As the train rolled to a stop in the city of Lucerne, we were all excited as we caught a glimpse of the world-famous rowing course on the Rotsee. We de-boarded the train and began our journey through the city with our luggage. Unfortunately for some, by the time we reached our hostel numerous luggage wheels had fallen along the way. The sounds of metal dragging on the ground in place of the wheels echoed the streets behind us. As we approached the hostel, we were pleasantly surprised by the quaintness and cleanliness of little Switzerland. We unloaded our luggage, showered, and were off again to search for a place to eat dinner.
While we waited for everyone to freshen up for dinner, a few of us wandered to a nearby bridge where we saw some young fellows doing flips and jumps into the water. Our administrator, Todd, felt compelled to challenge the young men to a diving competition. Out of nowhere, Todd began speaking perfect German and extended a challenge to the boys. Todd then stepped up to the side of the bridge and performed a perfect forward dive leaving the Swiss boys blown out of the water … just kidding, that was all Todd’s imagination.
We then made our way to a nice little restaurant for a team dinner. On the way there, we collectively harmonized to Do-Re-Mi from “The Sound of Music,” as it felt fitting given the landscape of tall, luscious green mountains surrounding the city. We soon remembered the film takes place in Austria and instead returned to our England soundtrack and harmonized ABBA’s “Waterloo.” At dinner, I helped myself to a yummy Margarita pizza and a glass of still warm water. Throughout this trip, many of us have longed for the big ice-cold waters we are accustomed to in American restaurants, as most restaurants we have gone to serve a small amount of lukewarm water. Nevertheless, the pizza was fabulous, the weather was great, and the company was fantastic.
We left dinner and headed out on a little walk through the city center. We saw many cute stores and streets to hit tomorrow and crossed the famous Chapel Bridge. We walked along the water of Lake Lucerne on our way back to the hostel and ended the night with a calm stroll home. The only hiccup was that Maddie got viciously attacked (AKA glared at) by a dog passing by. As I write this recap of the day, my two roommates, Maddie and Carb, are aggressively singing and dancing to the Mamma Mia soundtrack. Spirits are high and energy is up for the remaining few days of the trip.
Stay tuned to hear more about the rest of our Switzerland adventures!
A bientôt,
Juliette (GooGoo)
DAY 8: Maddie Wickers
The day started like any other on our journey thus far, with coffee. We needed to be caffeinated for the long adventure Coach Carter had planned for us today. This adventure started off by walking to Buckingham Palace where we watched the changing of the guards. Naturally, Juliette and I led the group the “scenic way” as we traveled through Trafalgar Square to the Palace. After which, we were ravenous, so we stopped for lunch and our second coffee of the day. From there we saw Westminster Abbey, planned my wedding, and gave a wave to Big Ben.
Our London excursion would not be complete without a trip on the Tube to the London Bridge (don't worry, it was not falling down) and Tower Bridge. Many Instagrammable photos were taken, including some featured in this blog post. We also took a second to film a brief “thank you” message to former Bucknell athletics administrator Brad Tufts.
Brad, who spent over 40 years working for Bison Athletics and is in the Bucknell Athletics Hall of Fame, was kind enough to sponsor one of our team meals on our trip.
After stopping for a vanilla cone with a flake, we were on our way to Platform 9 and ¾. Sadly we missed our train to Hogwarts, however, Sully, Juliette, Todd, and I got some amazing pictures with our stuck luggage cart. Fortunately for us, there was a door that led straight from photos into the gift shop where we all naturally purchased a butterbeer – non-alcoholic, of course.
The Natural Museum of History had another thing coming as we all showed up an hour before it closed. Don’t worry, Dippy the Dino is back! We were not allowed to see him, but I saw pictures and surprisingly, he looked just like any other dinosaur skeleton. Fun Fact: Dippy is so important because its fossilized bones were the first Diplodocus carnegii that had been cast in plaster. Now I know what you are all thinking, and sadly, no, I am not that smart. My best friend Google did cue me in on that fact. Sully and I took a speedy tour of the museum, even meeting Charles Darwin. Us being the scholars we are, we had to take a picture with him.
From the Museum, we took a pit stop at the hotel, everyone changed into our comfy clothes, and we headed to the Hard Rock Café. As we waited for our table to be cleaned off we all wandered around the gift shop. In typical tourist fashion, we happened upon a red telephone booth. Reading the plaque on the booth, everyone, especially Juliette and Carb, were excited to find that this specific phone booth had been used on the cover of One Direction's second album “Take Me Home.” Tears were shed as everyone came to the realization that we were touching something the members of 1D had touched. Not actually, but we were all pretty excited about it and made sure to grab some selfies. A Hard Rock employee offered to take our photo and was so kind as to enter one of the photos (pictured below)!
Upon arrival at the table, we heard a birthday celebration. Juliette was quick to text Coach Carter and ask if we could say it was Todd’s birthday. The trick was that it was a prank and not actually Todd’s birthday. Unfortunately for us, Coach Carter responded “not tonight.” We quickly forgot what we had asked and moved on to raising our waiter as well as the surrounding waiters. We have come to realize that people in England think that everyone from the United States has either a “Valley Girl” accent or a Western accent, and no in between. In the laughter, I asked our waiter if he would sing for us. We were at Hard Rock Café after all. He told us to give him 10 minutes and then he would come back and sing anything we wanted. We requested “Piano Man” by Billy Joel. We were distracted by a different waiter, Alex, when Ivan came back and told us to follow him. Our entire table got up and went to the front of the store. He pulled Juliette onto a little stage, an ice cream sundae was handed to her, a whistle was blown, our waiter loudly announced it was her birthday, and the entire restaurant sang her “Happy Birthday.” Unbeknownst to us, when Coach Carter had said no, she told Todd. He then pulled an Uno reverse and told our waiter it was Juliette’s birthday. We were shocked by Coach Carter’s betrayal. When Juliette was asked how she was feeling about the situation, she said she will get them back when they least expect it … tough day to be Coach Carter and Todd.
After the excitement in the restaurant, we went into a souvenir shop across the street. Some of us perused, others bought things. We then headed back out onto the street to see what the plan for the rest of the evening was. In a shocking turn of events, Coach Kish extended our curfew to 10:15 p.m., and so Carb, Juliette, Kate, Sully, Natalie, Hayden, and I headed out for our own little adventure. This consisted of walking aimlessly, meeting a man with a water gun who we thought for sure would get us, and then dancing to a man singing Frank Sinatra. We concluded our epic day of London sightseeing with some gelato. Dessert must always be had. We headed back to the hotel, even making it a whole eight minutes early. We quickly filled that time by regaling our stories of the evening's events to the coaches, and then we were off to our rooms.
All in all, today was full of a lot of laughs and a lot of walking – according to my watch a whole 13.89 miles! I have yet to pack and am looking at a pile of clothes, so I shall be signing off. Hopefully my bag isn't 65 pounds tomorrow as we travel to Switzerland.
Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it!
- Maddie Wickers
DAY 7: Chloe Segal
My day began at approximately 7:45 a.m. where I awoke to Rosie, my host family’s cat, snuggling between my legs. Rosie would commonly pop in through our window in the mornings and evenings to say hello and of course get lots of cuddles. By the end of our stay, my white comforter had been engulfed in black cat hair. Unfortunately, today was the day that we had to say our goodbyes to our lovely host families along with their furry family members. Before heading downstairs, we gathered all of our belongings and loaded up our suitcases. Just like the mornings prior, we had a delicious breakfast prepared by our host parents. Around 9:10 a.m. we started our venture to the other house to pick up our teammates and head to the train station. Upon arrival at the station, it came time for us to say our final goodbyes to our host families who welcomed us into their lovely homes with open arms.
The next stop for Bucknell Women’s Rowing was London! We hopped onto the 10 a.m. train where we began our venture. Three trains and a subway later, we have reached our destination. Today was day one of our London excursion. We separated into smaller groups to take on the city. Naturally, I sought out a coffee shop first and foremost. Now, with an iced latte in hand, my teammates and I began walking all around the city. At 3:15 p.m. we reconvened at our hotel to get settled into our rooms. After dropping our belongings in our pods, we proceeded to go back out on the town to explore even more.
Around 6:15 p.m. we gathered as a big group to have dinner at a restaurant called Bill’s. On our way back to the hotel, we came across some live music that we sang and danced to. As the evening was coming to a close, it was imperative to make one last stop… g e l a t o! I indulged in dark chocolate AND salted caramel (the superior flavors of course)!
We have a jam-packed day tomorrow, so stay tuned!
Best,
Chloe Segal
DAY 6: Erin Sullivan
This morning, we slept in a little and ate a delicious breakfast of toast, yogurt, and fruit at our host family’s home. Although we struggled at first, I can now confidently say that we have mastered the switches on the four-slice toaster. We met up with the rest of the team on our way downtown and all traveled together to visit The Henley River and Rowing Museum. One of the rowers described the experience as “educational, awe-inspiring, and spectacular.”
It was so cool to see how rowing has changed over the last couple centuries and how the history of the town has developed around the river. Some of the highlights of the museum included an interactive model of a triple decker rowing boat (called a “trireme,” a ship designed in 650 BC that had 170 oarsmen and a ram to attack other boats), Oxford’s boat that was used in the first Boat Race (a yearly race between Oxford and Cambridge that began in 1829), one of the ten Olympic cauldrons that carried the flame for the Olympic torch during the London 2012 games, and an oar that looked quite similar to a Bucknell oar.
Following the museum, I got to meet up with my family for a bit (happy birthday, Dad!!), and we got to walk around the town and river together. We went to watch the next round of the Ron Needs cup (the championship 8+ races that the eight had been competing in) and some of the other races. While it was 90 degrees with a strong headwind yesterday, today provided much different racing conditions because it was a cool 60 degrees with a strong tailwind. I was able to take in the racing environment from a different perspective as my family and I explored some of the tents and food trucks along the course.
Excitement was building throughout the day as we were getting more and more amped for the pair to race. Those of us no longer racing all met up at the boat racks to launch the pair, and as soon as they pushed off the dock, a light rain began to fall. We dispersed throughout the course in preparation for the head-to-head race between the pair and Durham University at 5:55 p.m. After some difficulties at the start, thepair fought down the racecourse with a valiant effort, but they unfortunately lost to Durham. Support for the Bison was heard all along the shore as well as from the river as both of our host families were cheering from their boat!
Following the race, we returned the equipment we had used for our time in Henley and enjoyed our final walk along the Thames. At this point the wind and rain had died down and we went as a team to have dinner at Café Rouge. We were tucked away in a room to ourselves and enjoyed our final moments in Henley together as a full group before Liz heads back to the States for her internship and we depart for London.
After dinner, we stopped at a mini mart to pick up ice cream cones and other snacks before resuming our walk back to our respective homes. We finished the day chatting with our generous and kind host family while having some delicious tea, final cuddles with Paddy, and shared many more laughs. It is incredible how close we have become and how much they truly felt like family here in less than a week. We are so appreciative and grateful for their warm welcome and support throughout our stay in Henley and are going to miss them greatly as we leave tomorrow. I cannot speak for everyone, but I will forever treasure not only the incredible rowing experiences we have shared over the past week but also all the memories of the day-to-day activities and interactions we have enjoyed that make it hard to say goodbye to this sweet and beautiful town.
Until next time,
Erin (Sully)
DAY 5: Caroline Brandt
This morning, we all woke up really excited for our day of racing at the Henley Women’s Regatta. As usual, we started the day with a delicious breakfast prepared by our host family. We then started our walk through the town to the other host family’s house where the rest of our teammates were staying. After meeting up, we had a quick boat meeting to talk about our plan for the time trial before walking down to the river.
Yesterday we had put our boat in the racks, but there were not too many other crews there yet. Getting to the course today was the first time that we truly saw all of the boats in the racks and all of the crews in the area. It was amazing to soak up the experience of being in this environment with all of these other athletes. As we started our boat meeting with Coach, we saw the pair come down the course for their time trial and cheered them on. We then finished up our boat meeting, warmed up and launched for our time trial.
As we shoved away from the dock, so many emotions went through my head. First, there were the nerves of having our first race on the course and trying to put ourselves in the best position for our afternoon races. Then, there were there the nerves of racing in conditions that we have not had much experience racing in. Lastly, there was the excitement of having the opportunity to race at the Henley Women’s Regatta against other incredible athletes.
After we shoved away from the dock, we finished our warmup on the water and got ready to go down the racecourse for our time trial. Juliette navigated the warmup zone and starting area with ease and set us up for success in our time trial. We really felt the headwind as we went down the course.
It was a lot stronger than what we had previously raced or practiced in, and we had some difficulty applying our skills to these unfamiliar conditions. Despite this, we gave the time trial our best and hoped that it would be enough to put us in a good position for the afternoon race.
We then walked to breakfast at the Hart Tavern in town and met up with Ollie (you should definitely check out her feature on @bucknellbison (Instagram). During breakfast, we found out that we were set to race UC Berkely in our first head-to-head race later in the day. We were all pretty excited for the opportunity to race such an experienced and talented crew, but then some of the nerves set in. After breakfast, we walked back to our houses and stayed there between races to relax and stay cool.
A few hours later, we left our houses and started to walk back down to the course. On our walk down, we watched the pair race and they absolutely crushed it, and we can’t wait to watch them race tomorrow afternoon! We noticed that it was much hotter than earlier, but still pretty windy. In fact, it was so windy that we watched another team’s boat blow off one of the racks as we were getting ready for our second race.
Before launching, we had a quick boat meeting to talk about our head-to-head race against Cal and set our goal as a boat for the race. We took some time to take in that this would probably be the last time that we raced together as a boat and talk about how we wanted to fully soak up this experience. Of course, there were some nerves before the race, but we wanted to focus on being excited for the opportunity.
Although I do not remember all of the details of the race, I know that we fought really hard the entire race. We had a much better race than in our time trial and did much better handling the headwind and keeping pressure on the blade throughout the race. It was really cool to race in this new environment where we could hear our coaches, teammates, and parents as we went down the racecourse. While we were not able to come away with the win, which is always disappointing, we were all really proud of the work that we have put in over the last year and everything that we have accomplished as a boat during that time.
While we were exhausted from a long day of racing in the heat, we were all excited to head back to our host family’s house. Of course, we had to stop at the mini mart on the way back to pick up some ice pops to cool off from the heat. Unfortunately for me, a wasp must have smelled my lemonade freeze pop, and I got stung soon after this stop (no worries, I’ve recovered since then).
After we got back and showered, the rest of the team came over for a yummy taco dinner at our house, which was a great way to end the day.
After we finished eating, we played some cornhole and table tennis. Unfortunately, Maddie and Todd were dominating cornhole, but Sully and I gave them a run for their money.
While this was definitely an exhausting day, we all had a great experience and enjoyed having the opportunity to race at the Henley Women’s Regatta.
- Caroline Brandt
DAY 4: Ollie McDonald
Today I had the pleasure of waking up to the smell of chocolate croissants, while fellow coxswain Juliette Gaggini had the fun surprise of waking up to Lulu (the house dog) licking her face. After another amazing breakfast provided by our house mom Jo, we promptly left the house at 8:30 (aka 8:35). Tensions were a bit raised today as it is the last day of practice before the racing starts tomorrow. Everyone is extremely excited but understandably nervous about the regatta. Today the river was packed as even more crews prepare for the race, and as an unexpected surprise while the 8+ was launching we met a boy in a nearby boat who will be attending Bucknell as a freshman this fall!
During my time at Henley so far I have had the unique experience of being the alternate coxswain. This means I have the pleasure of enjoying a peaceful nice walk down the river while the 8+ and 2- exhaust themselves as they row down the river at full speed. I have to say, my walks have been anything but boring. Today my walk started by being stopped by a man sitting on a bench because he recognized Bucknell on my t-shirt. He proceeded to tell me that his favorite podcasts to listen to are the guest speakers who go to Bucknell University. After our short talk on guest speakers, I then heard his entire life story, the experiences his brother had during his time at war, and his time in the Caribbean. After walking a bit further down the path I ran into Tessa Gobbo, who won gold in the 8+ for Team USA in the 2016 Rio Olympics. I had met her yesterday, but she remembered who I was so we had a quick chat before I continued down the river. It is not every day you get to have a casual conversation with an Olympian! Later, on our way back from practice we ran into a Bucknell alum who cheered ‘ray Bucknell as we walked past. Although, I have to say, by far my favorite part of my day was watching the swans stick their feet and bums in the air as they dove for the fish (see photo below).
Around noon we all ventured into town to grab some lunch and were delightfully surprised by a farmers market. We looked at clothes, food, and other trinkets but ultimately Juliette and I decided to grab mini quiches at a nearby market. It turns out there was chicken in the quiche (Juliette is a vegetarian), so I had two mini quiches! We of course stopped and grabbed her a cinnamon bun from a bakery across the street, but I am not sure if she will ever truly recover. After what will be henceforth known as “The Henley Quiche Incident”, we decided to head back to the house to rest after an eventful morning.
At this point in the day, I would usually take a quick four-hour nap until dinner after all the “hard rowing” I did that morning, but my family just arrived in town so I spent the afternoon with them instead (**accidentally falling asleep in their hotel room**). Although, unlike my teammates back at the house, they indeed woke me up after a quick half-hour. I walked my family down to the race course and showed them all of the boats and tents going up for the festivities. While walking around I couldn’t help but get excited for my teammates to crush it tomorrow.
After an eventful afternoon with my family, we had the pleasure of joining Juliette and her family for an amazing dinner. We even had the lovely surprise of seeing a bunch of our teammates at dinner and they were seated at the table next to us. If it were not for this dinner we would have missed out on learning that Juliette and I were both “butt-scooters”, instead of crawlers, as babies. It was at that moment I knew our friendship would last forever. After a clearly eventful day, we all walked back home to find our coaches, administrator, and athletic trainer having a ping pong tournament in the backyard. This is when I knew the day was complete and we all excitedly climbed into bed eager for the day ahead.
Cheers,
Ollie McDonald
DAY 3: Kona Glenn
Hello. Or as they say here: ‘ello. I apologize in advance for the poor quality of writing compared to Liz and Kate from the previous two days … I am an engineer after all. This morning I woke up to the sun shining brightly onto my bed, foreshadowing the hot temperatures and beautiful weather the day would bring. Then I ventured downstairs to have a lovely breakfast prepared by Sarah, our host mom, featuring some of the world’s best strawberries. While all of the strawberries here look fake because they are so perfectly shaped, their flavor and freshness are unmatched. Then we walked down our three alleyways, past the school (with the cutest scooter racks – imagine bike racks but for scooters!), to the other host family’s house, and then to the Upper Thames Boat Club.
Practice today consisted of more race pace, with most of our focus on staying internal, releasing tension, and maintaining clean entries at a higher rate. It is quickly starting to feel like a regatta week with more crews practicing on the course each day, the buoys being placed into the warmup area, and the endless boat racks lining the sides of the course.
Following this exciting row, I went to Hot Gossip (our new favorite brunch spot) with Georgia, Kate, Sully, and Chloe. They have the best food for such a cheap price, so I was able to treat myself to a berry smoothie, which was much needed after the sweaty row in the morning. We then went to the mini-mart down the street and found a few traditional British treats, like Jammie Dodgers, Jaffa Cakes, and tea biscuits.
On our journey home, we met another American woman whose daughter is attending Bucknell this coming fall! It’s crazy how small the world really is. As race day is rapidly approaching, we decided to have a relaxing afternoon in the house. I took a two-hour nap, while some people read and others watched movies. Then we went to Hart Street Tavern for a team dinner with the coaches, followed by a quick trip to the convenience store to get dessert (after Kate asked a local where the store was while we were standing in front of it).
One thing I did not expect coming here is that most ice cream places are closed before 7 p.m., but we made do with some Ben and Jerry’s despite my ongoing feud with them (that’s a story for another day). On our walk back we saw four rowers who are staying in a house across the street, so maybe in the coming days we’ll formally meet them and figure out where they are from! Then Sully and Kate taught me how to play a card game called Hearts, which took me a bit to figure out, but once I got the hang of it, it was quite enjoyable. Now the sun is setting and Paddy is barking at the pigeons outside, telling me it is time to go to bed.
'Ray!
Kona
DAY 2: Elizabeth Berlinger
Kate has applied her excellent Bucknell education and set the bar pretty high with the first blog entry so I will do my best to follow!
After a restful night’s sleep to fight off the jet lag, our team awoke in the lovely home of Jo and Miles Saunders and got ready for our first official row on the Thames River in Henley! Our host family provided us with a wonderful breakfast as we sat outside in the garden playing with Lulu, the family dog.
At 9 a.m. sharp, the full team met and embarked on the one-mile journey to the Upper Thames Boat Club to meet the coaches. Walking toward the river was one of the most beautiful and scenic pre-practice warmups I have ever experienced.
We arrived at the boat club and got our hands on our Hudson (the type of boat we will be racing in this week) for our maiden voyage down the Thames! Rowing in a new environment can be both exciting and stressful. Our coxswain, Juliette, navigated the course like a pro and managed to run a productive practice without hitting the boom or any other crews. The Thames is a very different environment from the Susquehanna. There are tons of people walking and biking along the river, international crews, tug boats, motor boats, and the occasional swan or two!
Our boat did an excellent job of staying focused as we adjusted to the new vibrant course and Hudson boat.
After our morning session, our coaches sent us off into the town of Henley for some post-practice fuel. I got a veggie bowl from an adorable café called Daisy and our team got to chat with the store owner. They asked to get a picture with us and told us they would watch our first race on Friday at 11 a.m.! Everyone in the town is very welcoming to the crews and enjoys talking with teams about the rowing experience.
After an exciting morning and early afternoon, I logged on to my work computer and started day two of my summer internship with ICON, a healthcare intelligence and consulting company. My schedule is a little crazy, but I wanted to be able to devote my time to this amazing opportunity without having to give up rowing in England. So, from 9 a.m.-1 p.m., I am with the team having fun and from 2-10 p.m., I am working full-time and completing my onboarding training with the company. I am so happy that my coaches and bosses were willing to work with me so I could participate in both experiences!
Around 5 p.m. England time, I went on a “lunch break” and took some time to get dinner with my teammates. It was so nice to see all of their smiling faces and receive their support as I navigated day two of intense training. We ate at Coppa Club and I ordered a margarita pizza. I enjoyed a quick dinner with my team and set back to the house for a 7 p.m. meeting (2 p.m. EST) with my functional manager.
I am currently finishing up the last two hours of work with Carb and Georgia, who were kind enough to join me in the living room and get work done so I wouldn’t have to be all alone!
Each day I spend becoming more adjusted to the town, course, and new internship schedule I find myself getting more and more excited about the racing opportunity that awaits us this Friday and feel incredibly grateful for this experience.
Go Bison!
– Liz Berlinger
DAY 1: Kate Meerscheidt
It didn’t even feel real as I watched the sun set through the clouds. The sunlight burned orange against the blanched blue sky and it felt as though we were merely flying through a painting my imagination had crafted. But, a few hours later when the sun rose, I felt assured in the knowledge that we were on our way to England, a “mecca of rowing,” to race at the Henley Women’s Regatta.
As I sit out on the deck in our charming host family’s house petting their Irish terrier Paddy, I feel as though all I can write seems melodramatic. But, while I may be viewing my new surroundings with rose-colored glasses (even when Kona broke a lawn chair), I cannot stress how truthful this account seems. But, before I continue blabbering on about how surreal it feels to be here, I know that this account would be incomplete if I didn’t mention the events of the last day that led to this exciting day in Henley-on-Thames.
The day started like most good days do, with about 36,000 miles in the air. Luckily, we were in the relative safety of a plane. The airplane was still dimly lit, illuminated by a handful of glowing screens. Before long we landed and followed the bustle of passengers through immigration and baggage claim. We then took the lift down to the tube (please excuse my stilted experimentation with English jargon but you know what they say, “do as the locals do”). After a few stops, we finally met up with our host families and settled in. We were able to spend a couple of hours basking in the sun and/or napping –- a welcome reprise from the last twenty-four hours of traveling. But, before long, the moment we had all been waiting for in a state of suspension finally came: lunch. We walked down to a charming café that bordered the Thames and feasted on sandwiches and coffee before finally departing for practice at the Upper Thames Rowing Club.
After a quick practice, we became an amorphous blob of obvious tourists, pausing every so often to snap a picture of the river or a particularly awe-inspiring street or building. While we split up to travel to the two homes, we were quickly reunited for dinner at the Saunders’ house (one of our lovely host families). After a comforting home-cooked meal and an array of desserts, we sat around in the backyard talking, playing ping pong, and petting their dog Lulu.
So, as I reflect on the day behind me, I am met with a bundle of fresh and joyous memories. However, the feeling that is the most overwhelming is that of fatigue. So, it’s here that I’ll end my entry. Tomorrow will hopefully be filled with similar levels of enjoyment; but, you’ll have to wait for Elizabeth Berlinger’s entry to find out.
Warmly,
Kate
