Leanne Stanley

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GOLD IN THE 500m!

August 30th, 2009

Upcoming Events

Sept 26 - Length of the Lake, Vernon to Penticton, BC

Oct 3 - PRCC Sun-Oka Showdown, Trout Creek,BC

Oct 10 - Sprint Time Trials, Vancouver, BC

Oct 11 - National Sprint Outrigger Championships

Oct 17/18 - ORPC Bridges, Victoria

Oct 19 - Who knows?!

Race Schedules

So there you have it, Canadian Women Rock the 500m! Grand Masters, Masters and Premier women all won gold today in the 500m at the IDBF World Championships here in Racice, Czech Republic!

The Grand masters team (mixed, open and women) won every distance they competed in at these Championships ... these folks are all over 50 (many over 60) and they are rocking it on the world stage. It gives a lot of us premier aged folk a lot to look forward to as we age, these folks are fit and fun!

The juniors also did well, I don't know their exact results but they definitely give Canada confidence that our presence on the world stage will continue to be felt in the future!

Then there's our Premier women. My goodness, I have never met a group of women that worked so well together. When something needs to be done logistically, someone always steps up. When something needs to be done in the boat, everyone steps up and that's exactly what happened today. We were all still stinging from the bronze and silver in the 1000m and 200m. The IDBF came out and admitted that the lanes weren't even and changed up the lane assignments according to the course. We had planned on racing three races today, purposely coming 2nd in the heat to race a semi final so that we could get more girls some racing time but also to change the lane we would have been seeded in for the final and so that we wouldn't have such a long wait between heat and final. Well, since the lane assignments got changed, so did our strategy for the day. We stuck to the new start (changed on Friday) and altered race plan (adjusted for the new lane) and went out and did a hard 500m in the heat. We won the heat (USA was also in our heat) and advanced straight to the final (as did China from their heat). While waiting for our races we had the privilege of watching the Senior Open, Senior Women, GM Open, GM women all win gold and of our open men pushing through their tough competition to make their minor final. Heading into our final we were pumped. Gavin and Julie gave us words along with what Sheila had talked to us earlier about. We were ready. Every single girl on the team found a new level. We weren't just doing it for ourselves but for each other. For our families that put up with our crazy training schedule, our friends that put up with our whining about how sore and tired we are, our colleagues that cover our butts on those days that we miss work for racing, for our communities that support us through our fundraisers and words of encouragement. We were not alone in that boat today. For the first time since I raced in Sacramento at the Worlds last year ... I heard the crowd. They were so loud as were were coming through the 250m mark all the way to the finish. It's like they got louder and we ramped up the intensity and they got even louder and we went harder ... you get the point.

After we crossed the line people on shore were telling us we won but we wanted to see it for ourselves before we started celebrating (not wanting to look like fools). So we sat on the boat cursing the scoreboard for taking soo long to put up the results. When it finally came up that we won ... oh baby did our boat rock! All those early mornings, all those painful workouts, all those sore muscles, all those days when you just didn't feel like it but you did the work anyways .... ALL WORTH IT! To see the smiles on the girls faces and tears in their eyes as we cheered and hugged, ALL WORTH IT! One of the things I told myself before the race and during the race was that the pain of coming in second or third is a hell of a lot worse than the pain in your body during the race. That's a lesson I learned in the past year. As I have told my teams and individuals that I coach, your body is capable of a lot more than you think it is, you just have to push past your comfort zone to discover what you really can accomplish.

So what now ...

Tomorrow I leave Prague and head to Vienna for a day or so. Then onto Salzburg, Zurich, Luzern, Bern, Lausanne, Geneva, then Barcelona by Sunday. Do I know where I'm staying tomorrow night ... not yet, internet won't work.

Thinking I'll take the day off tomorrow then start training for the next goal on Tuesday ... winning the IVF World Outrigger Sprint Championship.

It's official that I will be back in Canada the week of September 21st. So texts and phone calls may resume for domestic prices at that time :) I have no idea when I'll have internet again so please forgive not so frequent updates.

To all those returning to school/work this week ... enjoy :) Just remember that you keep getting a pay cheque whereas I don't!

Results for the Worlds can be found HERE. Click on results for the results and on Photo Gallery for pictures. More pictures can be found at www.nbeaulieu.com where a couple people from Canada are posting pics. Also some up on my facebook.

Final thought for today ...

What have you done to challenge yourself lately?

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