Rotsee: the rowing course preview with Grace Prendergast

World Rowing

Olympic Champion Grace Prendergast goes down the Rotsee on the occasion of the 2024 World Rowing Final Olympic and Paralympic Qualification Regatta.

Transcript

00:00The Rotsey is many rowers, including my own, favourite place to row around the world, but

00:08not everyone has the opportunity to see it from the point of view of a rower.

00:11So today we're going to take you on a bit of a course preview to show you what it can

00:15be like from the seat of a rower.

00:20This is where it all starts, and then 2000 metres down that way, the finish line waits.

00:25If you've never been to the start line of a rowing race, it is probably one of the most

00:30nerve-wracking tense moments.

00:33You're lining up in your lane with your competition a couple of metres to your left and a couple

00:37of metres to the right, and also the unique thing about this course on the Rotsey is you've

00:43also got the public swimming area over to my left.

00:49We're coming up to the first quarter of the race, the 500.

00:52On the Rotsey, it actually is a space where you're quite far away from both banks, so

00:57you're not getting a lot of noise from the crowd, but sometimes you are getting noise

01:01because the warm-up lane is right over to my right, the rower's right as well, and in

01:08my time, I definitely remember if your crewmates are out there warming up, you might get the

01:12odd cheer from them, but other than that, you're sort of out here, just you and your

01:16crewmates and your competition.

01:19Just after the 1,000 metres on the Rotsey, it's very unique here because for most courses,

01:25the boat park is at the finish line, but here you can see behind us, it's right at about

01:30the 1,000.

01:32That's when the whole atmosphere on the course changes.

01:34You start hearing the people cheering, you subconsciously also know that your teammates,

01:40and probably most importantly your coaches, are now along the bank watching and analysing

01:44your performance.

01:46It's also the most difficult part of the race, the third 500.

01:49You're still relatively far away from the finish line, but things are starting to amp

01:54up.

01:55For me, actually, personally, I probably liked this 500 the most, I just love a sprint to

01:59the line, so it was where I try and probably put the most work in, but for a lot of rowers,

02:05it's probably one of the lesser favourite 500s.

02:08The majority of the race is behind the rowers by now, and they'll all know when they see

02:13the red boys on the ROTC that it means they're in the last 250 metres.

02:17The pain is immense at this point, and the rate is going up and up and up.

02:21I think for some of the more impressively rating crews, they can be getting up towards

02:2650.

02:27Historically, that was probably never me or my crews, we'd probably be, if we got 40,

02:31that was impressive for us, but it's this last probably 20 or 30 strokes where it's

02:36coming down to the line.

02:37You can see also you're starting to get more and more noise, you might be hearing the Swiss

02:42cowbells and the grandstand that is fast approaching and people are on the bank, potentially having

02:47a drink or a bite to eat at the bar over there, but this is where it all happens, and every

02:54stroke I think the rower will be very, very aware of.

02:57The pain will be huge, but also it's where the hard work has all paid off and you're

03:02coming very close to the finish line.

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