.png&width=60&height=60&type=webp)
Brown Bear Insider: Team USA Members Carroll and Dann Recap the 2011 World Championships
8/23/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Crew
- Carroll - Race Dav Video
- Official U23 Rowing Website
- Row2k Coverage
- World Championships Photo Gallery
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Just because the 2010-2011 collegiate season is over, that does not mean that Brown student-athletes are not competing at a high level. Leigh Carroll and Ben Dann took their talents away from the Marston Boathouse this summer and accrued some impressive accomplishments at the 2011 U23 World Championships, while representing the United States. Each took a moment to relive their experiences and give an in-depth look at going up against some of the toughest competition in the world.
Carroll – Senior Coxswain
It was an interesting situation for me because it's not like college racing where you have raced most of the teams before, and you have heats and semis to see again how you match up against your competition. Many of the events at Worlds had heats and semis, but mine actually did not. So usually you know a little of what to expect.
In this situation, we didn't really know anything about the teams we were racing. Since there were only five boats total in our event (the women's 8+) we had only a race for lanes on Friday instead of heats and semis. There was a lot of anticipation, excitement, and some nerves for that race since we had been training together all summer for this one event.
We were third in that race and six seconds back from the winner (New Zealand), but we knew we could have had a more aggressive race. So for the final, we planned to go out extremely aggressively and just see what we could do.
I had planned extensively (my calls, different scenarios that might happen, etc.) for the race for lanes, but decided to go more with my instincts for the final and cox more off of what was happening in the exact moment, rather than specific calls or moves planned in advance.
The weather was pretty crazy for the final (which was held on Sunday). It was very windy, rainy, and cold. We were all very cold sitting on the line waiting for the race to begin, but once we started it was straight into race mode and all those thoughts or worries disappeared completely.
Racing is kind of an out of body experience for me. I never notice if I'm cold or hot or anything else during a race because I get totally, mentally keyed in to the boat and the field.
We raced as planned in the final - extremely aggressively right off the line and were the first crew to the 500-meter mark. Canada was very strong through the middle of the race and we couldn't stay right with them, but we fought with New Zealand, who took silver, the whole way. The last 500 meters were extremely exciting and we were closing in on them, but couldn't quite carry it all the way through.
Go Brown!
-Leigh
Dann – Senior rower
First, I cannot express how excited I was to row this summer, and how privileged I felt to represent the US in this year's U23 World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam as the Men's Single sculler. The experience was in some sense surreal and I did not expect to be racing by myself in the single scull, especially since I train and race in team boats here at Brown. The single is still a new concept to me even though I rowed in sculling boats (as opposed to sweep boats) in high school at Maritime Rowing Club.
This summer I prepared myself to try out for the U23 national team at the Small Boat Training Center in Craftsbury, Vt. under coach Larry Gluckman. It was a great place to train and focus on making the switch between the eight-man sweep boat and the one-man scull. I learned that racing alone allows you to immediately identify your strengths and weaknesses, which can be both rewarding and frustrating. Honestly, singles are lonely in comparison to the eight, but I was lucky enough to have teammates and coaches around all the time for support.
I remember how nervous I was before my first singles race at U23 trials. My initial goal was to just finish the race without flipping the boat over. Everything turned out ok, and after winning trials and earning my berth, I focused more on preparing myself mentally for the World Championship races ahead.
I feel that the philosophy in training and racing here at Brown was invaluable to me overseas. I can't emphasize how much I pulled from what coach Paul Cooke and the Brown Men's Crew coaching staff teaches us here at Brown. I know Leigh (Carroll) and I were proud to represent Brown as athletes this summer. I also feel lucky to be on team like Brown's, where fellow teammates and coaches are always pushing each other to a higher level.
I can only describe racing as fun. Weather conditions on the Bosbaan in Amsterdam during U23 Worlds worsened each day, so each of my four races from Thursday to Sunday intensified in difficulty. I remember joking with a fellow sculler about how wet and wild our final race was going to be.
Meeting athletes from other countries was probably my favorite part of the experience aside from racing. Other single scullers were very friendly and I make it a point to introduce and congratulate each other after races. Germany, Greece, and Azerbaijan were the dominant forces from last year, but this year, Germany, Bulgaria, and Lithuania led the pack.
I finished in 11th place (fifth in the B final), and found myself similar in speed to Great Britain, Italy, and Slovenia. I won my heat, was edged out by Greece in my quarterfinal for a second-place finish, and came in fifth in my semifinal after catching a boat-stopping crab (technical mistake). For the six-boat B final, I was sitting in a solid third position behind Azerbaijan and Great Britain coming into the second half of the 2,000-meter race. It felt like my best race yet, with a clean first 1,000 meters. It seemed as if I was closing in on Jon Walton from Great Britain when I caught another boat-stopping crab and finished in fifth. It was a bittersweet race knowing that a higher finishing place was within reach, but I was pleased knowing that I gave it my best shot.
Go Bruno!
-Ben
