Preparations for the Holland Beker

The Holland Beker is one of the most prestigious regattas in Europe. The races start on Saturday and will end on Sunday. For our Dutch crews it is also a chance to prove themselves for the KNRB as a selection process. From a good result at the Holland Beker crews can hope to see themselves racing in the World Cup 3 in Munich next weekend.


RTC Entries at Holland Beker: 
LW 1x - Mirta
Conno, Tim, Allard and Bart in the M4x (they are actually lightweights having to weigh in before the open weight event)
Bastiaan and Daan in the LM2x
Rupert, Dan, Hugo and Sjoerd in the M4-
Maartin and Thijs in the M2x
Janneke is in the W4x
Marja and Yvonne in the W8+
Marleen, Sarah, Avalon and Mariette in the W4-

 - Good Luck to all our guys!

Internationale Beetzsee-Regatta in Brandenburg, Germany (Sunday)

Sunday presented much better weather. Still a little bumpy, but not nearly as gusty. Cool weather meant rowers pushed off in long sleeve shirts and tights. Early in the morning were the heats, but most of the RTC athletes only had finals in the afternoon. Racing started with the Thijs and Maartin who race in the M2x (Men's Double Scull). They placed second to the German Olympic LM2x. Janneke and her partner Lisa raced in a combined event format of lightweight doubles and openweights and won.

Last events of the day were the quads. The RTC has two competitive quads hoping to earn a spot to compete in the U23 World Championships that will be held in Trakai, Lithuania. Connu, Bart, Tim and Ide were a close second to the Germans. Elmer, Bastiaan, Roel and Daan chased hard, but never found their rhythm to finish in 6th. 

That wraps up brandenburg. Crews de rigged and wrapped boats up ready to fly back or drive back. Thank you for the KNRB who provided and tent, resting place and food for the athletes during the racing weekend.

Internationale Beetzsee-Regatta in Brandenburg, Germany

Today was a rather interesting day with the weather bringing in some strong challenges. High winds made the start cloudy with dust that blew over the waves. Rowers reported starts that went off in un-rowable conditions, but then at the 1000m they could put on the power as water conditions flattened out a bit.

Many good results for the Dutch rowing Team. Results can be seen here > The RTC athletes in the U23 Men's Lightweight Quad took home a surprising victory today. What makes their result so remarkable is that they raced in the Senior A open weight category. And they still won with the Germans pushing hard on their bow ball.

The women's double sculls with Janneke also took gold. Thijs and Martin took silver in the men's double scull behind a very strong China crew. The lightweight men's double sculls heats of the morning also showed great talent from combinations with Roel and Bastiaan who took a surprising second. Tim and Ide took forth. In the next heat Conno and Bart won the heat. The final for the boys was right after their quad race. With hardly any cool down, or warm-up they went from medal stand to the double's final race. In this final Bart and Conno took third and Roel and Bastiaan took fifth place.

Tomorrow (Sun 15:52) both quads are racing in event 65 Lgw-Männer-Doppelvierer o. St. A Final.
LM4x A - Conno/Bart/Tim/Ide

LM4x B - Elmer/Bastiaan/Roel/Daan

Preparing U23 LM Quads and M2x

Training Camps are under way with the goal of a very fast U23 LM quad. Most of the rowers making the quad are from our South Holland Region. Week practices are done at Proteus, and weekend time trials are done at the Bosbaan. With the help of trailers, drivers and boats from De Maas and Proteus, the RTC has been able to conduct these logistics successfully.

Weather the weather

We have been witnessing an aggressive competition between 'wind' 'rain', and 'sun'. All three competitors are showing us who's in charge, but only moments before the other takes over. The stage keeps changing, with temperatures not quite knowing what to do, cold or rainbow?

The rowers go on. Either on the water or the erg.

Next event: This weekend: Training Camp at Proteus to select a Lightweight U23 Quad. Most of the rowers in the selection are from our region. A LM4x from the RTC!

NK - Dutch National Championships

The weekend broke with cold clouds and icy winds. But nonetheless the racing events were rowed right on time. Saturday was mostly heats with Sunday showing us the semi-finals and Finals. Early on RTC Athletes showed their stuff with Freek from Proteus winning the novice lightweight single. He is new to making the change to sculling from the traditional sweep rowing done at University.

Most RTC Senior A lightweights made it through to the finals. Janneke and Mirta went through to the finals on Sunday as well. The boat to really turn heads was the Open Coxless four with members from all three Clubs: Skadi, Proteus and LAGA. They placed forth on their Saturday final behind two KNRB boats and Njoord. (How about about an eight, Njoord with this RTC boat for the South Holland Region?!)

Sunday was a curious day, with some rain, but also sun towards the end. The winds made the Bosbaan look typical of Dawney Lake in Eton. (This is where the London Olympic Rowing events will be held). Very tricky waves made the last 500m quite a challenge for our athletes. Some results include Mirta placing second in her B-Final. She is still recovery from her burn injury on her arm, Elmer from LAGA won his novice single race, Thijs from Skadi placed third in the open single, and Allard from De Maas second, with Bart close behind to place third in the Lightweight Men's single.

The clubs of the RTC are : De Maas, Skadi, Proteus and LAGA. Currently there are 17 majors in the RTC, and 30 developing minors. RTC coaches John Parker and Ans Rom Colthoff are happy with this weekend results, but look forward to raising the bar for the region even higher.

Next stop for the RTC is Brandenburg Regatta in two weeks time!

Ans, John and Bae

The Last 500m of the Bosbaan

The setup

Mirta and Wounter

Thijs and Ans

Janneke

Bart

Maarten

Hugo, Sjoerd, Dan, Ruppert

Tanja

Mirta

Elmer

Thijs

Allard

Allard, second and Bart, third on the medal stand

Training and Testing

At the club of Proteus, John performed elite-level lactate testing with athlete Hillary. A measure of blood is sampled to test that lactate generated as the watts increase on the ergometer in four minute steps. Coaches and rowers were encouraged to come and view the testing. The following day, training continued as usual on canal of the Schie with the big boats that cab become a rower's nightmare!

Did you know that in 1389 the Skie canal was dug out, providing a connection between Delft and the river Maas. In this way access to the world economy was created. Large ships came in through "Delfshaven". Delft owes its name to the word 'delven', which is a synonym for  means '(to) 'dig'.

Hillary completing her 4 minute interval at a given watt ratio

John testing her lactate with a sample of blood pricked from the finger

Coaching from the bike