2000 meter race day is drawing to a close

Thanks Rachel for providing all of the information for everyone to keep informed. The IDBF Club Crew Championships has really embraced the new technologies;

• Real time race results
• A gigantic big screen TV that you can see in direct sunlight
• A paddler database (ugh!!!! but I guess it is a necessary evil) (Team Managers hate it).
• The credentials have a barcode that ties back to you, your picture, date of birth, gender, passport number, and whether you are a coach, helm, paddler etc. All fed by the ...... yes. The database.

The crew rosters for the different distances are done ......... on the database.......and then we have to turn in a copy that is a print from the database or (if you didn't bring a printer or if the Hotels business center is useless) you do it by hand.

All of that being said. The race site is really top notch. It is the best dock arrangement I have ever seen at a race. They can handle 16 boats at one time which makes marshalling and rurn around times a breeze.

The Macau folks organzing the race have gone above and beyond. They have more than enough staff to take care of everything necessary. Our personal staff person, Dawn, calls me every evening to make sure we know the race times for the next day and to see if we need to be escorted to the race site.

There are, however, the typical glitches as with anything this size. The opening ceremony, for example seems to have been hastily planned to be squeezed in between the final 2000 meter races. I can hear the announcer from my hotel room as I write this, so I know the opening ceremony is under way. (I am in the hotel room and not at the opening ceremony because I need to do tomorrow'a rosters in the database.)

The great news is that with such a well sized facililty the program is running on-time. Such a rarity in events this size.

The last comment for today, sorry no pictures, is about the weather. We had monsoonal rains that started yesterday afternoon about 4 pm and lasted for about 5 or 6 hours. A few more heavy downbursts came through during the night. Today however, the skies have not threatened once although there are large clouds passing in the distance.

The temperature is hot and the humidity is staggering. It is hard to breathe during a 2000 meter race in that kind of heavy air when you are not used to it.

More to come - follow the real time race results at IDBFworldchamps.com and click on live race results. It is the best way to stay informed.

Larry