Sify Breaks Own Record by Taking 6 in a 'Row'!!

That's right, folks! Last Saturday evening, we surpassed our own record by being the first company in the history of the M&B Regatta, to win the championship 6 times, consecutively. Howzzat?? :)

The last one and a half months have been absolutely crazy. So much so, that I even gave up on updating the rowing blog, something which I had taken up with a lot of interest last year. But after achieving this almost impossible feat, I felt I had to include the details in the 'Chronicles of Defending the M&B Regatta Championship'!

So let me attempt to give a gist of the whole story, and thereby make up for the absence.

This year, with great difficulty, we rounded up a handful of people and assembled at the club by around the 13th of July. By then, most of the other companies had already started serious practice. I remember landing up for my first day of practice, this season, and there was hardly anyone from our team. Someone from another team walked up to me and asked, in a tone that I would say was more patronising than concerned, "Where is your team?". Of course, seemingly unfazed, I replied lightly, "Good question. That's what I'm looking for, too." :)

With all the management changes and its subsequent effects riding high in the company, motivation levels were low and not many people were willing to volunteer for any extra-curricular activities that would warrant any extra effort on their part. I still remember people dodging away at the sight of me, for fear that I would talk them into coming for rowing practice!

From there, to be honest, it was quite a difficult stride ahead. Every morning, we would find half the crew missing. By the time, we got them and, not to mention, our coach in, we would barely have time for our outings. Come to think of it, it's almost unbelievable how we froze on our final teams just hardly a week before the races!! The Womens Fours crew was a classic example where the team was finally put together 2 days before the races and I think, counting the finals, we would have had a maximum of 8 outings!! :)

With the other teams majorly gunning for us, I must admit that we were also highly apprehensive. The main tangible difference from last year was, more than anything else, the size of our team. Last season, wherever you turned, you could only see the Sify team whereas this time we had to really turn our heads to see someone from our team!! In the mornings when we walked in to see only a handful of us, we would ask each other, hopefully, 'Is the rest of the team on the water?" only to get a reply, "What rest of the team?? This is the team!!". We would also constantly trip on ourselves and keep joking around and putting ourselves down. Trust our team to have our fun even during tough times! Somewhere, I think, that sent out a signal to the other teams that we were going down. Well, were they wrong or what?? :)

Another major problem was getting proper coxes. Somehow, whoever we tried just didn't work out. In the end, we decided that Lokapriya and I would cox all the races, ourselves, and Wasim would cox the Women's Pairs and Fours. That still left the Mixed Fours which had Satish, Wasim, Lokapriya and myself in it! (It was finally coxed by Roshan.)

Nevertheless, we still put in all our efforts and went about with our practice and preparations, quietly. The races came, and we qualified for the finals of 4 events out of 8. The unexpected sweet victories were the clean sweep we made of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place for the Men's Pairs, and Vishnu and Ezhil, who had never been on a practice outing previously, coming 3rd for the Double Sculls!! We also came 1st for Men's Sculls, 2nd for Mixed Fours and Women's Fours, and 3rd for Men's Fours, Women's Pairs and Women's Sculls. And, finally, we managed to beat our opponents by a close margin of 3 points, taking everybody by surprise!!

I was a little disappointed (okay lets be frank here, a lot more than a little) when we were knocked out of the finals for my Women's Pairs. This was one event that I had practiced for from the very beginning and I simply could not believe that I could not even enter the finals, let alone win it. But I guess, things don't always go the way we want it to. I also feel, most of my energy was channelised more towards coxing than rowing. While taking up coxing, I really wasn't aware of the amount of efforts it warranted. Only towards the end of the races did I realise, it had left me totally drained. However, I have no complaints. I am ony too glad I got to experience it and I must say coxing is is one hell of an experience. So I totally enjoyed to the tilt, all that I got to do and I am only left thirsty for more!! :)

To sum it up, I would say that it is one and a half months of sheer hard work, grit, dedication and our never-say-die attitude, which were the key factorsfor our win. Of course, it is also the right kind of attitude, determination and team spirit that drove us and kept us from being demotivated, despite all odds. And I guess, in the end, despite all that tough competition we faced, the best team won!

So here I am all bruised, blistered and badly burnt, yet, eagerly looking forward to the next regatta. :)