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