2007 World Rowing Championships, Munich Germany

Aerial and Splashs' Rowing Blog -- U.S. National Adaptive Rowing Team

2007 World Rowing Championships, Munich Germany

2007 US National Adaptive Team

Four + LTA

Ryan, Jesse, Jamie, Tracy, Aerial

Four plus US Elite Nationals Lake Mercer NJ

US Elite National Championships June 23, 2007

Womens single arms only time trial

Laura Schwanger named to team for 07

Scott Brown and Angela Matson

Jesse Karmazen, Jamie Dean, Aerial Gilbert, Tracy Lee Tackett, Ryan Pawling (coxswain)

Alternate: Kendra Benner

Friday August 17, 2007

Tomorrow we will begin the final push to train together as a team before we leave for Munich on Wednesday August 22nd.

Jesse and Jamie will be arriving tomorrow morning, so our first practice will be with Karen (coach), Tracy, Jen (from the previous 3 years) and myself. Thank you Jen for jumping in the boat with us! For the afternoon practice the line-up will be all together: Jesse, Jamie, Tracy, myself and the brains of the boat, Ryan!

I am staying at the apartment where I have stayed since 2002, with Russell Redenbaugh and Natalia. It is a nice treat, they are in town, so we will have a nice visit. Hedda has her play toy -- Coulter, Russell's Guide Dog. It is great to have a day to relax before the big push starts tomorrow!

Saturday August 18

9:30 felt like 6:30, hmm, I wonder why? I forgot to make coffee this morning. We met at St. Joseph's boathouse to get our four, Karen, Jen, Tracy and myself and of course Ryan. We did a nice long swing row, meaning that we held to a slow rate, with control, and worked on technique. It felt good, an all- girl boat (except of course Ryan). I am proud to say we row "like girls" -- we are all about technique, and swinging together. We will have plenty of time for big power! We finished the row at Fairmount boathouse, because St. Joseph's is hosting a party, and we wouldn't be able to row out of their boathouse in the afternoon. Jesse and Jamie flew in, in time for the afternoon row at 3:30. We all jumped in the boat, and picked up where we had left off 3 weeks ago when we got together for a hefty weekend of practice. We met up with Scott and Angela in the double, and Laura in the single. Ron won't be joining us until Tuesday. It was exciting to all be together, and made the event feel real. We practiced a new start, and worked on technique, throwing in some power pieces. The boat feels powerful when we pick it up. We finished the row and Isabel brought over our backpacks with the US National Team gear. Always an exciting moment, receiving our US Unisuit for racing, a backpack, shirts for practicing and warming up, a polo, shorts and some flip-flops. All with the US National Rowing Team crest/ logo. Nike did our gear again this year, so the backpack is very cool. There is always a little flurry of trading to get the correct sizes. Everyone seems a little tired, but excited to be on our final push before we leave for Munich.

Sunday August 19th

We started at 9:30 at Fairmount boathouse, and ended the practice back at St. Joseph's, where we will launch from for the remainder of the training. We had a good practice, where we really had a lot of great strokes, and were moving together nicely. We did one 3/4 power 1000-meter piece, which felt good. The rain is beginning, and it is supposed to be flooding rains this afternoon. We will row unless there is lightning, the only reason to get off the river. We will practice some race pieces this afternoon, and if the lightning comes it will be land work on the rowing machines. Tomorrow we will begin practicing at 6am and 6pm until we leave on Wednesday. There is lots of excitement building and at the same time there is also a quiet serious attitude, knowing that this is a qualifying year at Worlds for Beijing next year. This is not just a race for the medals but to secure a spot in the Paralympics next summer.

The afternoon row was done in a torrential downpour. But the good news was that there was no wind or lightning. So we had the Schuylkill River to ourselves. We performed our first 2 timed practice pieces. Both were done at 80% pressure with a start and a move in the middle but no sprint, and the second included a sprint. We pulled up to the start line with Angela and Scott, so we had a boat to row with. They were sent off first so we could end together. Our start was fast and strong, and the whole row felt incredible. We had a good move and finished strong, clocking the fastest time we have ever done (since 2002). Faster than the British 4 that won the gold last year. Our second time through, we dropped our time by another second. That was the shot in the arm our boat needed! The rain never let up, and to finish off the practice, Karen's launch ran out of gas 500 meters from the boathouse. Our final workout was to tow her back to the dock.

Monday August 20th

We started our first practice at 0600, dragging ourselves to the dock. We were feeling good about last night's row, and we carried that enthusiasm on to the water this morning. We focused on technique, lots of drills for catching and connecting together. Rowing is all about chasing the perfect strokes, and making them repeatable. Making 4 different bodies work together. In our case four with different bodies, 2 that can't see and 2 that are working with physical disabilities. We all know what it means to compensate....

Tuesday August 21st

4:30 felt early (by west coast standards it is 1:30am) and I had a little trouble motivating myself to get ready for the 6am row. It is still raining and about 65 degrees. Are we really in Philadelphia? It feels more like Seattle. We spent the practice working on technique again, finishes, coming out of the bow together and the connection at the catch. We have been rewarded with great afternoon practices after the technique rows in the morning. Last night we worked on starts and sprints for the finish of the race, and it felt great to bring the boat up to high rates with a lot of power to move the boat.

Tonight after practice there is a send off party at St. Joseph's boathouse for our team. The four, double and womens single will all be at the boathouse to party with family, friends, and supportors of the team. Tomorrow morning we will have our last practice in the morning before leaving for Munich in the evening.

I am working on laundry, and work before I will be out of communication for a couple days. Karen, Gunnar and her father, Jim picked me up to visit the Tutankamen exhibit at the Franklin Museum. I think Hedda was as big a novelty at the exhibit as the artifacts. Jim, Karen, and the audio tour gave me a great feel for the exhibit. I enjoyed the descriptions, and Gunnar (10 months old) crawled his way through on all fours just like Hedda. We went from there right to practice. It has calmed down to a light drizzle, but still very cold. We did a warmup and two 10-minute pieces, going from a stroke rate of 22, building to a 28 in the last minute. We performed a row-by the St Joseph's dock so the "fans" setting up for the send-off party could catch a look at us. It was too cold to wear our new US uni's, but we proudly wore layers of national team gear. Carl Pawling, our official team photographer, was out on the launch with Karen, taking lots of photos of the four, double and single. The party was packed with family, friends, and team supporters, and lots of great food. There were some introduction speeches by Isabel Bohn, the queen mother of adaptive rowing in the United States, and a very generous donation for the team to receive jackets. we wrapped the party up about 9pm so we could go home and get some sleep before our final practice before leaving for Munich.

Wednesday August 22nd

We met at St. Joseph's boathouse for our final practice. We did some starts and practiced a couple of 500-meter pieces at race pace, and called it a morning. Tracy went off to work before the flight, and we put the boat up on the racks for the final time. Now it is time to pack, and get ready for lift-off. Hedda and I are doing a little relaxing, Hedda in the prone position spread out on the bed enjoying the space before she is squished in the plane for 8 hours. All her paperwork is in order... ready to go.

We all met up at the airport, there was very few people checking in so it went quickly. Security was pretty uneventful considering we went through with 2 dogs and a wheelchair. Hedda and I ended up with an open seat next to us, so we had a comfortable 7-hour flight to Germany. We were quite a group; 4 wheelchairs, 2 dogs, and a few extra limbs.

Thursday August 23rd

We landed at Munich airport at 10:00 am, and everyone was reunited with their luggage. As we were departing the customs area Jamie and I were told to show our paperwork for the dogs to the customs dept, and when we entered they wanted to know what we wanted. We held out the paperwork, they took a brief look, and the only comment was "P E T A L U M A" and then they sent us on our way.... Tracy assisted us directly to a small patch of grass where both Hedda and Priscilla immediately knew what that was for, and didn't wait for the commands of "do your business" and "park". Happy girls! Then we were met by 2 accessible vans that helped load all our luggage and the wheelchairs. We got to our hotel, the Suite Hotel just on the outskirts of Munich, in about 30 minutes. The landscape is similar to rural Oregon (according to Tracy) with fields of agriculture interspersed with forests of trees. Very lush and green. Our hotel is in a new development with apartments, duplexes and the hotel. Tracy and I are rooming together, Jamie is with Jesse, Scott and Ryan, Angela and Laura, and Ron has his own accessible room. The hotel is very modern, beautiful design elements, with 2 beds -- a double and a single. Tracy let Hedda and I have the double. There is a microwave and refrig., separate bathroom, and shower/tub sink area. Closets, but no drawers. We are having our dinners and breakfasts at the hotel, and lunch at the racecourse. After we all got our things to our rooms (got the dog food for Hedda and Priscilla) we head out to the racecourse, which is a 15-30 minute drive (depending on the driver) They use beautiful modern air-conditioned buses to transport us. These run every half an hour all day long. The racecourse is the one that was used for the '72 Olympics, a beautiful man-made course, with clear (appears aqua like the Bahamas) cold water that is pumped in fresh all the time from another lake. There are big grandstands for the spectators. There are launch docks at the end of the lake, where there are a long set of buildings full of boat racks.

Our first order of business was to find the accreditation center to get our credentials for the regatta; a photo ID that is worn at all times except on the water. We got our individual ID's made, and Hedda and Priscilla got theirs as well. Then a photo was taken of our individual boats. We then went out to find the rest of the US boats, so we could rig all of our boats, find our oars, and get ready to go out the next day for our first practice. We made it back to the hotel just in time for our 6:30 dinner time. It was fabulous food, beginning with a fresh green salad, homemade tomato soup, and pasta. We were all ready to go to bed after that.

Friday August 24th

We all had varying amounts of sleep, with a tough start with the room phone ringing with a wrong number and then a call from home from someone who thought I was still in Philadelphia. We got up and found the absolutely fantastic coffee and croissants! That's the way to start the day. We then decided to take a walk around the area to see if we could find a grocery store and ATM machine. We discovered one within 3 blocks, and stocked up on a few necessities, like great bread, cheese, lunch meat, peanut butter fruit, nuts and yoghurt. I always love going to grocery stores in foreign countries. Sometimes you get some surprises in what you think you are purchasing... We then met out at the racecourse for a team meeting at noon, and our first training practice at the new venue with the Hudson four and some new Concept 2 fat smoothie blades which Russ loaned us. Russ also offered to watch the dogs as he has done for the past 3 years. Hedda was comfortable, and figured out the routine right away. The first practice went extremely well, and it felt fantastic to get out on the water and start moving our bodies again. We were on the water for 2 hours from 1-3, which will be our routine until we start racing on Wednesday (our first heat). After we got off the water, both Jamie and I spent a few minutes with the team PT who worked on a few knotted muscles. From there we checked out the New Wave tent; I wanted to be sure I could get the pins and a few other items before they ran out. Good thing, they had only been open a few hours and they were down to their last 8 pins. From there we went back to the hotel for dinner, a little socializing and an early retirement to bed. I vaguely remember waking up thinking Hedda had a little case of upset stomach, and then fell back to sleep, it turned out that Tracy woke up in the night hungry and tried some of the meat she bought, and it was a little "strong" smelling... I blamed Hedda and it wasn't her! Both Tracy and I are still getting used to the time change, and didn't get a lot of sleep.

Saturday August 25th

We got up at 7, had a big cup of strong coffee and a breakfast of hard boiled eggs, muesli and fruit. Since we have not been able to get on-line at the hotel (25 euros/day) we decided to bring our laptops to the racecourse and take advantage of the free wireless internet access. Finally we are on! We will bring our laptops daily now so we can keep up with email and my blog.

We had lunch and our daily team meeting at noon by the US team boat racks. Our practice time today is 1:30. Hands on the boats at 1:15. Today we did 250 meter practice pieces, starts, body of the race and sprints. The starting pontoons were available to practice starts with, but we didn't use them. It is still hot during the middle of the day, and shade is at a premium. Hedda has her permenent spot at the Concept 2 tent with Russ and Bob, who joined the crew today from Vermont. Hedda is happy there with them, in the shade with her water bottle. After practice I picked her up, and chatted with the guys from C2 a while and then we headed back to the hotel. The opening ceremonies for the World Rowing Championships started at 6pm, and with the expectation of fireworks, I decided to leave her back at the hotel with Jesse, who decided not to partake in the festivities.

We made it back to the venue and over to the bleachers for the night's festivities. There were thousands of spectators, and athletes. This is the biggest world rowing championships, and the Germans were proud to host the event. They prepared for a couple years for the festivities, and it was apparent. There were bands, gymnasts, stilt walkers, speeches by dignitaries, a parade of the history of rowing on the course beginning with Viking ships, gondolas, and every size and configuration of rowing shell. There was a parade of nations, dancing, and a lot of local Bavarian culture and history. We got back to the hotel about 9pm.

Sunday August 26th

Today Jamie and I get classified (for our disability). The others are done, as we have US official classifiers, but they aren't able to classify blindness, so that will be done here. We will have our practice at 2pm today, as the heats are beginning and don't end till 1:30. Tomorrow we have our first heat. We will be racing against Canada, Israel and Korea. South Africa dropped out. From there, there will be semi-finals.

At 11:30 I went for classification by IPSA, first time they are involved, since next year is a Paralympic year. This is the international visual classification organization. They had an assessor and equipment but the equipment wasn't able to adequately assess my vision loss. What is normally done, is I would be sent to a local hospital with the equipment available to assess my eyes, and a determination made from there. I was given a temporary classification for this event, and can send tests from home to this assessor for classification for the Paralympics if I make the team.

After the classification process, which was long and uncomfortable, we had a 2pm practice. We did a run-through of the 1000-meter race with a warmup start, and sprint at the end. This way we were able to figure out the timing for the first heat on Monday. It was pretty hot, so afterwards Tracy and I went for a dip in the lake, which is pretty "refreshing."

We returned to the hotel, had a 6:30 dinner, and since there was no soup served that meant it was a dessert night (those are the rules), apple strudle with ice cream. Tracy and I took a walk around the neighborhood, and as a city planner, she was interested in this new neighborhood and how it was designed with its wide 12-foot walkways, cobblestone parkway for the cars and 2-lane drive. The buildings are 5 stories with a green roof. A playground and skate park/ scoccer field for the kids. There are bike/walking paths, and the neighborhoods are quiet and clean. The temperature in the evening cools down a little and it is comfortable walking around in short sleeves. We socialized with the group a little in the courtyard in front of the hotel, and went off to bed by 9:30

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Monday August 27th

We got up hoping to be energized, but still both feel a little groggy in the morning. Had a good night's sleep, went for coffee and breakfast. Hedda is in a routine now with her feeding and her special relieving spot. We are relaxing a little before we head down to the racecourse for the first of the races. The singles will race first, then the double, and then we are the 3rd of 3 heats for the four. This will determine who we will race in the semi-finals. Kendra arrived on Saturday evening; she is our alternate, and it is fun to have her join us now. She balances out the female energy for the four. She has a spares race today as well, which is done on the rowing machines. She will compete in a 1000-meter erg race at 3:50, and we will be there to cheer her on.

Jamie, Jessie, Ryan, Kendra, Tracy and I took the 11:30 bus to the racecourse to get there in time for our 12:00 meeting. Karen went over our hands-on times for all of the boats. The women's single, Laura, would race first, then Ron in the Men's single, Scott and Angela in the double, and we race last in the 3rd heat of the four. We had lunch in the athlete's tent, finally some protein - chicken - and it was pretty good too. Then we walked up to the spectator's stands where some vendors like JL, and some others were, and we did a little shopping (shopping therapy is always good) Then we watched the races until it was time for us to prepare to go out at 3:20. Hedda went down to visit her buddies at Concept 2, Russ and Bob, and we put our boat on the water right on time.

We heard (and the others watched) the other 2 heats for the fours come down the racecourse as we were making our way through our warm-up, and headed up to the pontoons for the start of our event. We were in lane 3. From the start we pulled off the line quickly, and pulled ahead of everyone, and stayed there until Ryan saw that we were well ahead of the field except Canada. We needed to come in in the top three in order to progress directly to the semi-final, and as long as we were that far ahead of the third place boat we decided to finish the race without a move or a sprint. This did allow Canada to pass us, but we came in with a comfortable lead over the 3rd place boat, and we didn't have to exhaust ourselves for the next races coming up. The results for all of the races (including the adaptive singles, doubles and the fours) can be found on the Worldrowing.com web site. There is a link on the site that will take you to the World Rowing Championships results.

Karen met with us after the race, and we were happy with the race. Thursday will be the semi-final, which will determine which boats go to which finals. There are a lot of new countries with entries, and a lot of great competition. We returned to the hotel, had great dinner (that included soup, so that meant no dessert). We walked to the local grocery store so we could get some cookies. We were Jonesing for some dessert, so the soup didn't cut it for us.

Tomorrow our races won't start until 3:30pm, so we will be able to take a cab to downtown Munich and do a little sight- seeing before heading out to the race course. Tomorrow they are holding the semi-final for the women's single races. So we will try to get back to the race course so we can watch Laura race.

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Tuesday August 28th

We woke up around 7am and it is a little cooler today, overcast. A very nice break from the heat. A group of us decided to explore the shopping area of Munich since we don't need to be at the racecourse until 2:10 to watch Laura race in the semi final. We asked the front desk to get a large taxi for us that would accept 2 blinden hunds (guide dogs) and a wheelchair. Jamie, Ryan, Scott, Kendra, Tracy, the 2 dogs all piled into a taxi van at 9:00am, and went to Marinplatz (sp?) for shopping and sightseeing. It really felt like we are in Germany now. After going back and forth from the rowing venue to the hotel, it was hard to get a feel for the country. We enjoyed the architecture, and outdoor coffee places along with the shopping. Ryan and Jamie had to get beer steins. I found some goodies to bring back, and so did everyone else. We got split off from the boys, but met up again at 1:10. The girls found an outdoor restaurant and experimented with 3 different dishes so we could share. It was great food, a little heavy, but very flavorful and satisfying. We called the taxi company we had used on the way to downtown, and got a taxi back to the racecourse, arriving 5 minutes before Laura's race started. We strategically placed ourselves down the racecourse to inspire her. Tracy and I were right at the finish line, and Laura came over the line in 2nd place by .3 seconds. It was an amazing finish, and only 2 will go to the A final. This also secures a spot for the women's single for Beijing next year. It was a huge win against Canada, who came in 3rd. She was amazing!! We all celebrated her win, and then went out for a nice 45-minute swing row, working on some starts and settles. It felt great. We got the heat sheets for the semi-finals for Thursday. We will have to come in, in the top 3 in order to move to the A Final for Saturday.

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Wednesday August 29th

It started raining during the night, and around 4am the thunder started, which set Hedda off. We shut down the windows, and I gave her Xanax. She was pretty agitated for the next hour until the storm moved on, and the Xanax kicked in. We slept until 8, and went for breakfast, had a relaxing morning where we stayed dry and warm at the hotel. We went to the racecourse at 11:30, making it in time for our noon meeting. Today is a practice day, getting ready with our strategies for all of the boats for tomorrows semi-finals. We all know what we need to work on. So at 1:30 we went out for a 40-minute row to focus on the areas Karen wanted us to, and keeping the workout light. We came back to put our boat up on the racks, and as we had done in the past we left shorts, my sunglasses (since all blind rowers have to wear black-out goggles) and the sunglasses and a few other things were taken. I am still mourning the loss of my favorite glasses, but Jesse and Ryan have offered to let me use theirs. Not sure where we will put things in the future, as it is apparent that our things aren't safe being left by our boat bay. Ken Campbell arrived from California, and got to meet the guys from Concept 2; he fit right in with his accent from Scottland. We came back to the hotel with plenty of time to rest before our 6:30 dinner. Early to bed tonight to get plenty of rest for the semi-finals tomorrow.

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Thursday August 30th

I woke up at 6am, a little anxious. Tracy was awake as well. We had an early breakfast,and went to the racecourse on the 10:30 bus to be there at 11:00. Ron's race went off at 1:20, he came in second, qualifying for the A final on Saturday and securing a spot in the Paralympics in Beijing next year for the men's single. Then Scott and Angela raced, coming in third, also moving to the A Final on Saturday, and securing the double in the Paralympics. Then we raced, and came in 2nd, ahead of Italy, moving to the A Final and we too now have qualified the four for the Paralympics. Now all four boats have qualified for next year! We are so relieved! Saturday will be the A finals for all of our adaptive boats. I am tired, and elated at the same time. I have seen this through from the first year, 2002 in Seville, before rowing was accepted into the Paralympics. This is an extrordinary moment, knowing the 5 of us have gotten our four qualified. Celebrating will have to wait until after the finals, though one of those German beers sounds good right about now....

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Friday August 31st

Today we had practice at 3:30, since the semifinals were still going on. We got Karen to give us a later meeting time so we could do more exploring of Munich. Kendra, Tracy and I decided to brave the bus/subway system, and go back to Marinplatz, since there were areas we hadn't had time to explore the last time. Shopping, historical sites, and a coffee place. We managed to make it there in about 1/2 hour without any difficulties. The shops were open, and we had time to explore for several hours. We found a great coffee shop after a few hours so we could try some pastries and a cappucino, and have the energy to do some more exploring. We made our way back to the hotel in time to ride the regular bus out to the racecourse. We had lunch at the venue, the regular pasta with red sauce and chicken this time. Finally some protein! We got out for a 45-minute swing row, with some practice sprints to get ready for tomorrow. Hedda stayed with Russ and Bob, and she is quite comfortable with that routine. Though they say that she notices when our boat goes by, and gets excited. We finished up at the racecourse at 5pm and came back to the hotel. We will have dinner and early to bed tonight. Need the rest for the final tomorrow.

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Saturday Sept 1st

I had a good breakfast, knowing that I wasn't going to be able to eat anything for lunch except a light snack. We were a little anxious, but not as much as before the semi-final. The biggest pressure was to get the boats qualified for Beijing. It would be great if we could medal now, but the real job at world's this year was done. Meeting time was 11:30am at the racecourse. It was cold and windy, a strong cross/tail wind on the course. My neck and shoulders were stiff, and my pyriformis muscle tight. Lisa (team PT) worked her magic on them for about 20 minutes, and I felt ready to row. No strategy changes would happen now, just preparing our minds to row our best and hardest. Karen did visualization with each of the boats of the race, and we were ready to go. Hands-on for the four, 1:10. Laura's race 1:20... This would be followed by Ron's race and then the double, and finally our race :00. We got hands-on and took the boat down for the last time in Munich. We all knew this was going to be a battle, and we needed to spend everything we had on the racecourse. The warm-up was clean and together. We could hear the races go off, and finally Scott and Angela went, which meant we were next. It was difficult to tell how the other races went. Finally the moment we had waited for, we pulled up to lane 5 for the start. There was a strong tail wind on the course. There was a 2-minute delay, and then the start! Each country was named in the race, Germany, USA, Netherlands... , red, flag, then ready, row. Our start was fast, and we pulled out in front of the field, which we kept until around the 500, where Germany and Canada and GB started to pull ahead, the last 250 was a sprint to the death, I was concentrating on staying with my boat, feeling the stroke, and staying as strong as I could, We followed our race plan, and the sound of the crowd, the other boats, completely obliterated the sound of Ryan and the rest of the boat. The last few strokes of the race, my legs and lungs were on fire, and I didn't know how much longer I could hold on... then it was over... I could hear Germany screaming next to us, and all I could do was try and find enough air to gulp into my lungs. It seemed like an eternity until I could get enough air, and hear the results. All the boats were so tightly spread, that the difference was 10ths of seconds. It was a good race, and I am not disappointed with 5th in the world, not with the level of competition and the number of countries participating. A victory on the medal stand would have been nice, but we rowed our best, and we didn't have it this year... Next year in Beijing, we know what we need to do. No medals this year for the US adaptive team, but we were all victorious in qualifying all 4 boats for Beijing in 2008; only 4 countries were able to accomplish that.

After the race Tracy and I went to Concept 2 to pick up Hedda. Russ was standing with her there waiting for us, and met us with big hugs, and a whisper in my ear, that the rowing blades we had borrowed from them for the competition now belonged to us. The tears came down my face as we hugged, and then was repeated by Tracy. This would be the last year that Russ would be at our races, and the support that Russ and Bob have shown for our team is amazing. I will always think of them when we row with those blades....

We then spent a couple of hours de-rigging the boats, and preparing our boats, riggers and blades to go back in the USA container to be shipped back to the US. Ken Campbell was interviewing each member of the four, Karen, and Glenn Merry. Then we had the individual boat photos, and a group shot with our uni's on. We needed to be back at the hotel by 5:30 so we could catch a 6:30 taxi to Marineplatz to have dinner at a restaurant that Isabel had organized. A traditional German dinner, beer, and more beer. We started the party at the racecourse with our free beers (we had received coupons for filling out an athlete's survey earlier in the week. Well having had no alcohol for months, no food, and rowed hard, the beer went right to our heads, and the party started... The ride back to the hotel on the bus was a lot of laughs, and this was followed by a little party in Karen's room with sausage, cheese, and some local wine. Then we were off for the evening of great food, Weinerschnitzel! It was so good, even better than the place we had tried earlier in the week, and Bavarian cream with raspberry sauce for dessert! I tried the heffeweisen beer (wheat beer). Ryan's parents and uncle joined the party as did Frank ,Laura's friends, Sandy (Scott's wife) and Ken too. Lots of food and beer and a great time. Afterwards we walked around a little in the cool fresh evening air, and then took a taxi back to the hotel. Jamie, Jesse and Kendra left for the train station, and an 11 hour adventure on the train to Rome! They will return by Monday morning. Pricilla stayed back at the hotel, where she will hang with Hedda until Jamie returns.

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Sunday Sept 2

Hedda and Priscilla were ready to start their day at 0600, so we got them up, fed and out to relieve. They had a little play session while Tracy and I got ready for the day, had our coffee, and then off to breakfast. Today we will take it easy, and then go out to the racecourse in the afternoon to watch the rest of the Championships, including the final 2 races of the mens and womens 8's. Then bring our gear for trading... Then its time to pack and get ready for our flight back to Philadelphia on Monday morning...

Selection Camp for the Four Plus boat for the World Championships took place in Philadelphia

May 31-June 3 2007

Back L-R Jeff, Jesse, Kendra, Jamie,Tracy, Andrew Karen(coach)

Front: Natalie, Julie, Ryan,Isabel, Aerial, Megan, Lisa

Selection Camp St. Josephs Boathouse 2007,

The athletes who will be competing at the World Championships in Munich in the LTA4+ were announced June 3rd. The selection camp was held at St. Josephs University Boathouse in Philadelphia. Returning team members Jesse Karmazin, James Dean, and Aerial Gilbert will be joined by 2002 team member, Tracy Lee Tackett. and returning coxswain Ryan Pawling. The team will also be backed up by spare, Kendra Benner, a former paralympic swimmer.

Selection Camp Philadelphia, Schuylkill River

Adaptive 4+

M Trunk (T) Ron Harvey

Jesse Karmazin

Tracy Lee Tacket

Ryan Pawling (coxswain)

Angela Madsen and Scott Browin

The Golden Double!

Gunnar, 10 months old

Isabel Bohn and Laura Schwenger

Munich Race clourse

Ron Harvey

Mens arms only

Laura Schwenger, Womens arms only single

Russ (London) and Bob (Vermont) Concept 2

Hedda's official dog sitters, they ar the best!

Opening Ceremonies historical parade of boats

Opening Ceremonies, stilt walkers

Opening Ceremonies, Viking ship

Are the M&M's rowing....

Shopping in Munich

Laura Schwanger Womens Arms only Single comes in 2nd is Repachage, moves to A Final and qualifies the first adaptive boat for the Paralympics.

Ron Harvey comes in second in the Mens Arms only single, moving to the A Final, and qualifying the 2nd adaptive boat for the Paralympics

Angela Madsen and Scott Brown come in 3rd in the Trunk and Arms double, moving to the A Final and qualifying the 3rd adaptive boat for the Paralympics.

Jesse Karmazin, Jamie Dean, Tracy Lee-Tackett, Aerial Gilbert and Ryan Pawling come in 2nd in the semi-final, moving to the A-Final and qualifying the 4th adaptive boat for the Paralympics.

All 4 boats will participate in the A-Finals that take place on Saturday Sept 1. All USA adaptive boats have now qualified for the Paralympics in Beijing in 2008.

Munich World Rowing Championship poster

Adding to the flavor of the poster!

Plaza with sculpture ? north of Marineplas

Where are we? Which way to the subway?

Results of A Finals Saturday Sept 1st

Womens Arms only Single 6th in the world

Mens Arms only single 5th in the world

Mixed Trunk/Arms double 5th in the world

LTA Mixed Four 5th in the world

Strong Like Bull

Start List for LTA Final