81. Women's Doubles Tennis

Event: Women's Doubles Tennis
Date: 17th July 2015
Location: Leisureworld Tennis Centre, Eudo Road, Colchester
Cost: £17.00 for two hours
Rules: The winners are the team who win the best of three sets. The first team to win six games wins a set, but they must lead the other team by two clear games. The final set is played to advantage and a wide court is played.

The Game:

 

 
London 2012 Winners: Serena and Venus Williams, USA.

Teams:

Laura & Claire
Sarah & Ellie

Score:  

Set One:   L&C 3 v 6 E&S. Winner E&S
Set Two:   L&C 6 v 2 E&S. Winner L&C
Set Three: L&C 0 v 6 E&S. Winner E&S
Winners: Ellie and Sarah 
           
Comments:
Sarah: We had a lovely sunny evening for our last tennis match of the Challenge, and it was a pretty fine way to spend a Friday night. I'm not a huge tennis fan, but was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it tonight. It was my first time playing on a grass court and it took us all a while to get in the swing of things, but we definitely improved as the games passed. Most of the points were won and lost on the serves, but we did manage to get a handful of rallies going throughout the match. I think most of my returns were reactions rather than informed shots, but we were just happy for any point we could scrape!

Ellie: Who knew that tennis takes so long? This match took us 2 hours and we were really speeding along at the end to try and get all the games in. It's tricky to get the power levels right without dropping the ball into the net or sending it into the car park but once you get a few shots on target it's very satisfying. It was lovely to be partnered with Sarah; we seem to be on opposing teams during this challenge so it was nice to get some high-fives on the go. Claire and Laura were superb opponents and it was a pretty even game. I think luck had a lot to do with the majority of points scored and we went from deuce to advantage and back to deuce again a lot! It was a lovely evening and I can imagine playing again for fun once our challenge is finished.

Huge thanks to our fantastic opponents Laura and Claire!

 

80. 400m Individual Medley

Event: 400m Individual Medley
Date: 26th June 2015
Location: London Aquatics Centre
Cost: £3.50 each
Rules:  The Swimmer competes in equal distances of every swimming style. The event combines technique, speed and endurance. The swimmer completes 100ms of Butterfly, Backstroke, Breaststroke and Free style. Some part of the swimmer must touch the wall at the end of each length and at the finish.

   

The Event: 

Times:

Olympic Gold Medal London 2012: 4:28.45, Ye Shiwen, China.

Sarah: 13:56.80

Ellie: 15:20.24

Comments:  
Sarah: Having done no swim training in months, I wasn't looking forward to this one. After a few practice lengths to remember how to do some weird form of Butterfly, we just got stuck in. It turned out there wasn't much to dislike about this event; two lengths of each stroke gave a really nice variety, lots of tumble turns (never get bored of them) and best of all, the last time we'll ever have to do Butterfly hurray! 
          
Ellie: Swimming in an Olympic pool is very special and today it was wonderfully peaceful and the sun shone outside. The 400m medley is a tricky one; just as you get into the flow of the stroke you have to change and I definitely struggled with some of the turns - performing odd acrobatic somersaults that didn't help me in the least! It was great to be back in the water though and remind myself that swimming for pleasure is something I should do more often. So that is one less swimming event to do and no more Butterfly stroke but each time we tick off a swimming event in the pool brings us nearer to our very long outdoor swim and that is terrifying!!

79. 800m

Event: 800m
Date: 7th June 2015
Location: Colchester Athletics Track 
Cost: Free
Rules:  Runners race twice around a 400m track. They start from a standing-start and run in lanes. A reaction time of less than 0.1 is deemed a false start and runners will be recalled, with the responsible athlete disqualified. A runner can also be disqualified if they step out of their designated lane.

   

The Event: 

Times:

Olympic Gold Medal London 2012: 1:56.19, Mariya Savinova, Russia.

Sarah: 4:23.21

Ellie: 8:00.26

Comments:  
Sarah: Just two little laps of the track, how hard could that be?! I found it so difficult to get my pace right, and probably went too slowly on the first lap and a half. Our coach gave me some good training tips to try and increase my time when we return to the 800m as part of the Heptathlon.
         
Ellie: I thought I would approach these 800m in a different way today. I have been reading a lot of things lately about how people talk to themselves in a derogative way and how unhealthy that is so my 800m was all about positive thinking. 800m without disrespecting myself, without putting myself down... I found it really hard. Doing exercise when surrounded by fit young things throws up a lot of hurdles for me (sorry, bad pun)... so I made myself comment on the weather, how healthy it was for me to even be brisk walking this distance and how good it would feel to finish. Before I began I had said to Sarah that I would be happy with 8 minutes and, thanks to a little spurt on the home stretch, that's what I got. Maybe I can reduce that for my next go? 

78. Rowing - Single Skulls

Event: Rowing - Single Skulls
Date: 25th April 2015
Location: Sudbury Rowing Club
Cost: £100 Learn to Row Taster
Rules: Women's rowing events were first included in the 1976 Montreal Olympics. Races are held on rivers, canals or lakes over a distance on 2,000 metres. Races start under the supervision of an aligner and a starter, with umpires positioned along the course and at the finish line. The Single Skulls category sees one rower in each boat, rowing as fast as possible over the course. 

The Event:

Times:

London 2012 Olympic Gold Medal: 7:54.37 Miroslava Knapova, Czech Republic

Comments:  

Sarah: The float stabilisers definitely gave us a bit of a cheat on this one, but they meant that we didn't have to worry too much about toppling in, and could concentrate on our stroke and overall technique. Left to my own devises, I found it really hard to stick to the edge of the river and constantly had to correct my position on the water so other boats could glide past. It took a while for me to master coordinating the oars, and I got some bruised knuckles in the process, but I definitely felt I improved; through lots of riverside encouragement and trial, error and wobbles.

Ellie: Rowing in the single boats is a whole different kind of pressure; for starters we moved from using one oar to two and it is definitely not as easy as Bridget Jones makes it look! You need to be very precise with your movements and how you sit in the boat in order to simply move in a straight line - which is something I struggled with - let alone all the complicated arm movements, navigating, watching for other boats.... and getting in and out of the boat is difficult enough. AND a swan attacked me... well, it sort of flew over the top of me but it had that devilish look in it's eye, if you know what I mean. I think rowing is something I enjoy much more when in a boat with others especially whilst a novice; I felt much more at ease with others around. That being said, when the sun was out and I could take some calm strokes and gaze into the meadows, it felt very blissful... swan attacks aside. 

 

77. Rowing - Eight

Event: Rowing - Eight 
Date: 25th April 2015
Location: Sudbury Rowing Club
Cost: £100 Learn to Row Course
Rules: Women's rowing events were first included in the 1976 Montreal Olympics. Races are held on rivers, canals or lakes over a distance on 2,000 metres. Races start under the supervision of an aligner and a starter, with umpires positioned along the course and at the finish line. The Eight category has eight rowers in the boat with one oar each. The cox shouts directions and encouragement to the rowers.

The Event:

Results: 

London 2012 Olympic Gold Medal: USA

Comments:  

Sarah: After loving canoeing last year, I was really looking forward to rowing and getting back on (hopefully not in) the water. The feeling you get when gliding through the water in the sunshine is pretty unbeatable. The Eight was the first boat we tackled with the club, and over a few sessions we gradually built up from two people rowing with the others sitting (steadying) the boat, to all eight rowers pulling at the same time. It was more than a little wobbly at times, and a mix of exhilaration and terror when blades caught on the water and caused the boat to rock. With the help of our fearless cox, we persevered and no one fell in! We barely began to cover the techniques required, but for those few strokes where we were all synchronised, it was completely wonderful.

Ellie: Where to start with Rowing... well, we started with the Eight. Yes, just like the Oxford and/or Cambridge crews we powered up and down the River Stour... well, not quite like the boat race crews... I've never seen them looking like they were going to have some kind of fear induced panic attack. Or that they had completely forgotten everything that they were told 15 minutes ago. Or a look of alarm on their faces when things get a bit wobbly and they hadn't remembered a towel. Or like they have forgotten what side of the boat they were sitting on. Or what all the terminology means... or words in general for that matter...
Although it felt like the scariest way to start our rowing education, with hindsight, it was definitely the best. The load is shared between you, there is always someone to give you some tips and analyse what you are doing - for better or worse - and you don't have to worry about looking where you are going or where you are steering. As Sarah says, the times when we all rowed together or you were on a streak of good form and things clicked felt wonderful and you could really appreciate the passage you were making along the water and how it would be possible, given a lottttt of time and practice, to be able to call yourself someone who can row. 

 

76. Rhythmic Gymnastics - Individual All-Round

Event: Rhythmic Gymnastics - Individual All-Round
Date: 14th April 2015
Location:  South Essex Gymnastics Club, Basildon Sporting Village
Cost: £5.50 per lesson 
Rules: Rhythmic Gymnastics is one of the two sports performed exclusively by women. The sport is a combination of gymnastics and dance, with gymnasts performing choreographed movements to music using hand apparatus such as rope, hoop, balls, club and ribbon. In individual competitions, gymnasts perform with two of the apparatus on the first day, and the other two on the second day. Their scores are added, and in the final they perform with all four apparatus.     

The Event:

                    

                    

London 2012 Winner: Yevgeniya Kanayeva, Russia.

Comments:

Sarah: We had an introduction to all the different apparatus, then got to choose our favourite for the individual routine. I had a ribbon when I was little, and thought there may be a vague chance I could at least keep it moving for the duration of the routine. I found the individual routine so uncomfortable; much like I found with the artistic gymnastics floor routine, the thought of everyone watching whilst I stumbled through made me cringe! There's safety in numbers in the team!

Ellie: I think I chose the clubs to see what could be done with something a little harder and less glamorous - a description that could be applied to me! I felt a real difference between the equipment and how I 'performed' with them - the ribbon made me floaty, the hoop made me giddy! and the clubs made me feel quite technical... Again, I really enjoyed this routine but as Sarah says, there is nowhere to hide when you are performing on your own!

75. Rhythmic Gymnastics - Group All-Round

Event: Rhythmic Gymnastics - Group All-Round
Date: 14th April 2015
Location:  South Essex Gymnastics Club, Basildon Sporting Village
Cost: £5.50 per lesson 
Rules: Rhythmic Gymnastics is one of the two sports performed exclusively by women. The sport is a combination of gymnastics and dance, with gymnasts performing choreographed movements to music using hand apparatus such as rope, hoop, balls, club and ribbon. The group apparatus are alternated for each Olympics. Each team consists of five gymnasts, with only three of them performing with each apparatus.  

   

The Event:

                

London 2012 Winners: Russia.

Comments:
Sarah: A dance routine with props, what's not to like?! Putting together the team routine was so much fun, and despite a few mess-ups during the performance, we fumbled our way through. We're far from masters of the hoops, but this has to be one of the most fun events we've done!

Ellie: I really, really hope that the video above shows how much we enjoyed this routine! We had an introduction to all apparatus on week 1 and week 2 was dedicated to routines. I was giggling the whole way through, I was having such a good time. Watching the video back, I can see that with a little more thought and finesse and loads more practice I really could have made all of those catches and moves work and I would do it all over again in a heartbeat - it was great!

Thanks to Holly and Becky for being so happy to get roped in!