April 26, 2006

The Patriot League Championship: this is what we train for. Everything we do is thought of in terms of how it will make us faster, better, and stronger, for this race. This is the race where we get to stand up to the other four schools in our league and earn a name for ourselves. Before last year there was no Patriot Championship, so this is our chance to prove that women's rowing is worthy of this recognition, and deserves the attention given to other varsity athletic teams. Our team understands the significance of this race: this is our chance to prove ourselves.

Every now and then I realize: maybe people don't know. Maybe people don't realize that everything we do is for this race. In the fall we train for our spring season, with the intent of reaching our peak on this weekend. It is constantly drilled into our minds: we have Erg Armageddon, then three weeks until spring training, and then we're only six weeks away from the championship. Even our race pep talks are laced with ties to this race. It's either "We're going to see some good Patriot League competition today" or "This will be a step up, in order to prepare you for the caliber of competition you will see at Patriots". Perhaps people outside the realm of Bucknell Rowing don't know we've been preparing for this race since the clock stopped at the end of last year's race. That every action taken is one is taken with the Patriot League Championship in mind.

But with all this hype, is our team nervous? Nervous from the pressures that have been emphasized throughout the year? Nervous about the bad conditions associated with Worcester, Mass.? Nervous that a race so significant will end in a few short minutes and we won't have achieved our goal? Not in the least. We're hungry, and nothing is going to scare us away from giving it our all and rowing with a higher intensity than every before.

After all, this is what we've been training for.

- Jessica Glenn '08