85. Rowing - Double Skulls

Event: Rowing - Double Skulls
Date: 24th October 2015
Location: Sudbury Rowing Club
Cost: No charge.
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 Double Skulls sees two rowers in the boat with two oars each.

The Event:

Results: 

London 2012 Olympic Gold Medal: Katherine Grainger and Anna Watkins, Great Britain.

Comments:  

Sarah: After our dunking in the River Chelmer last year during a canoe lesson, I've been pretty keen not to go for any more river swims. We had just one more rowing event to get through without falling in the River Stour. I was feeling fairly confident about it, until it was revealed we'd be going out in the boat together. No! We were sure to fall in! We gingerly made our way out on to the water and slowly found our river-legs. We took it in turns rowing whilst the other sat the boat to keep it steady, and eventually plucked up the courage to take some strokes together. One thing I've learnt about rowing is that you have to power through the wobbles; keep on taking strokes and finding the rhythm, ignoring the fear of falling in. We didn't quite manage that; for every wobble we screamed, laughed and sat the boat as quickly as possible. There's no way we'd have been able to even attempt it in our first lesson though, so it was great seeing how far we'd come. Towards the end of the session, the rain started pouring down, giving us a strangely peaceful farewell on the completely still water.

Ellie: This was the ultimate test, the final rowing session and we were going out ON OUR OWN! Sarah did an incredible job of steering us out into the open water and keeping us level and it was a really relaxing row once we'd settled in. The weather did get a little wet but it was strangely pleasant. Massive thanks to everyone at the Sudbury Rowing Club who have allowed us to be part of their summer and made sure we didn't fall in the water more than was necessary!
 

84. Football

Event: Football
Date: 3rd October 2015
Location: Strangers Corner, Brightlingsea Sports Centre
Cost: £40 pitch hire
Rules: Football is the most widely played game in the world, but the women's event wasn't included in the Olympics until 1996. Teams of 11 try to score as many goals as possible in two 45 minute halves. All players must be in their own half at kick-off and the first kick of the ball must go forward. No more than 15 minutes extra time can be added by the referee at the end of each half to make up for penalties and substitutions. If necessary, the game can go to a penalty shoot-out after extra time.

The Event:

London 2012 Olympic Gold Medal: USA

Results:
Sarah, Greg, Claire - 13 v 6 - Ellie, Kim, Anna, Laura

Comments:  

Sarah: It was a tough mission to gather twenty two willing women to take part in our football match. As you can see from the pictures, we fell short of a few players, so adapted the pitch and played the lesser-known three-a-side rules. We tried to stick to proper match rules as much as possible, but there was certainly some loose interpretation going on. I found myself really enjoying the match, and would definitely like to play again but with bigger teams so we can focus more on set-plays and properly feel the flow of the game.

Ellie: I believe this is what is known in the trade as a pasting, a rout, a thrashing if you will. However, I like to think that it is a score line that shows how good Sarah's team was rather than how badly my team played. With the exception of the captain, me, my team played like bloody superstars! There were headers, excellent reactions to frankly shocking sliding tackles and some lovely goal celebrations. We were tactical, canny and and at one point did this amazing crab-like rugby scrum move which was pure genius. I definitely let the side down; I missed open goals and let opposition goals in through my legs. I took myself off during both halves to give myself a talking to and to give Laura a chance to shine. Although Football is clearly not my game, it was such a lovely thing to do on a Saturday morning and I'd be up for doing it again!

Huge thanks to our wonderful teammates; Laura, Greg, Claire, Kim and Anna

83. Rowing - Women's Coxless Pair

Event: Rowing - Women's Coxless Pair 
Date: 9th September 2015
Location: Sudbury Rowing Club
Cost: No charge.
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 Coxless Pair category sees two rowers in the boat with one oar each.

The Event:

Results: 

London 2012 Olympic Gold Medal: Helen Glover and Heather Stanning, Great Britain.

Comments:  

Sarah: Our coach Tricia seemed quite nervous about this one; I think she was fairly sure she was going to go for a swim before the session was over. The boat definitely felt more flighty, but I much preferred just having one oar to focus on and can definitely see the attraction of this event. After some impressive manoeuvring by Tricia, I was relieved when we got back to the launch nice and dry. Huge thanks to Tricia for having the confidence in us to risk a river swim!

Ellie: This boat is far too unstable - there is no way that rowers are able to keep this upright and go at any speed... but of course, they do because they are much more able and skilled than I am! It felt a little bit like the Bumblebee paradox - technically and obeying the laws of physics they shouldn't be able to fly but they do. This boat didn't feel like it should stay upright but it did, thankfully.
I much prefer having 2 oars to keep me balanced though so I was pleased when we'd finished this trip and were back on dry land but look how fast our photographs make us look like we're traveling! 

 

82. Rowing - Women's Quadruple Sculls

Event: Rowing - Women's Quadruple Sculls
Date: 8th September 2015
Location: Sudbury Rowing Club
Cost: No charge
Rules: Women's rowing events were first included in the 1976 Montreal Olympics. Races are held on rivers, canals or lakes over a distance of 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 Quadruple Sculls category sees four rowers in each boat, rowing as fast as possible over the course. 

The Event:

Results:
London 2012 Winners: 6:35.93 Nataliya Dovgodko, Kateryna Tara Senko, Yana Dementyava, Anastasiia Kozhenkova; Ukraine

           

Comments:

Sarah: This was our first event after a busy summer and it was great to get back to the Challenge! We were a little ropey to begin with as it had been a few months since we'd last been on the river. I frantically tried to remember my Bow from my Stroke and which direction to hold the oars, but after a few practice lengths most things came flooding back (or I just copied those in front of me). Although we were wobbly, for a few glorious strokes the four of us were vaguely in time and we were gliding through the water. Then I got my oar caught and nearly tipped everyone in.

Ellie: Being quite naive, I thought I'd remember to row a lot easier than I did. It took some proper concentration and copying those in front, as Sarah says, to get back into the rhythm. I definitely hadn't forgotten how inelegant I am when getting in/out of the boat!
We were in a beautiful wooden boat for the Quadruple sculls and when Sarah was part of the two rowers getting into their stride I had time to dip my fingers into the water and relax in my beautiful surroundings. It was very pleasant!

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?