Regionals 2012 - Day Three

Sunday was the last day of the regatta and Kylie wasn't supposed race.  I woke up with a bad headache and crazy vertigo, whole body spinning sensation, but I still wanted to go and watch a few races.  Aubrey's Novice 8+ boat had won 1st in their heat and their final was that morning, plus there were several other finals and the high school 8+ races. That means all the rowers in the boat have to be from the same high school. Most teams pull from several high schools, but Bainbridge doesn't, so we usually do well in the high school races since they always row together.  We were going to have a Junior and Senior boat for the girls, and since Kylie is a sophomore, she wasn't going to race.

I made it in time to watch Aubrey's final, and they won!  Aubrey is the farthest on the right:

Brad had stayed back in the hotel room since Kylie wasn't racing.  I watched a few more races, but still wasn't feeling very good, so I decided to go back early.  We packed up and headed home.  A few minutes after we left, I got a text from Kylie saying that she had jumped into one of the high school 8 boats at the last minute because one of the girls had been injured, and they won their race!  I was so mad at myself for leaving early!  She was so excited!  

Since the high school races aren't Nationals qualifiers, they dress up to make it even more fun.  This is the Junior's boat.  One of the girls hurt her ribs earlier in the day, so they asked Kylie to fill in!

 

Here are some of them with their 1st place medals!

It was an amazing regatta for our team.  Overall, four boats qualified for Nationals:  the women's 4+, men's 4+, women's lightweight 4+ and women's lightweight 8+.  They won 6 gold medals, 11 silver, and 10 bronze.  We heard kids from other teams saying, "Keep an eye on Bainbridge, they're tough!" With one high school, no boat house or dock, choppy salt water, and only 1000 meters to practice (races are 2000 meters), we've still become a powerhouse team!