At the end of April, 15 MRClers and 2 RGMlers went to the rowing camp in Völkermarkt in Carinthia – a new location for the MRClers after the camps on Lake Como last year. Thomas Thallmair and partner Christiane von Oerthel from the MRSV were already there with a group from the MRSV, who then left.
The rowing centre and the rowing area, a large reservoir of the Drava in the middle of the countryside, were extremely beautiful. The water was mirror-smooth at least in the morning and reflected the surrounding mountains. In the distance, snow-capped peaks of Slovenia flashed.
The reservoir is navigable over approximately 24 kilometres of river (downstream 7 km, upstream 17 km), making a total of 48 rowing kilometres available. The boat traffic is low and there are no swimmers, but there was a lot of driftwood during our stay.
The relief of the landscape means that there is less wind on the water surface – with stronger gusts of wind, the wind-protected ‘canal’ between Völkermarkt and Edling is an optimal stretch of water for rowing training.
However, it was mostly windless and we drove south-west past Burg-Schloss Neudenstein, or even drove in front of the rowing center in the quadrilateral, leaving the country starboard (wherever that may be ;-)).
The biggest daughters of the Rowing Centre are the Lobnig Sisters – Magdalena Lobnig is both world champion and Olympic champion. Some of us met her in person (Katharina Lobnig in the picture in the middle, Magdalena just on the water).
It also trains world champions and Olympic champions from all over Europe on the reservoir, including the Deutschlandachter. The rowing centre itself is accordingly well equipped and offers, among other things, fitness and seminar rooms.
Our quarter on Lake Kloprein ‘Genuss Hotel Silvia’ was 10 km away, had good cuisine and a jetty with sun loungers. In the beginning, however, there was little time for this, because most of the time it was rowing or video analysis, the latter in the hotel or rowing center.
The group was in between severely decimated by a gastrointestinal virus, which has already rampant in the previous group. With us, however, the small epidemic probably came to an end. Thanks to the very attentive and helpful group, everyone sat back in the boat at the end and could also enjoy the delicious dinner.
Because of the great weather, all units could take place on the water, 2x a day on 6 days in always good conditions.
On May 1st, the training was moved to 7.00 in the morning to avoid the sun and approaching holiday tourists. It was the next and unfortunately last day. The breakfast afterwards we could celebrate so extensively and also enjoy a few hours of sunshine and ice cream on the jetty.
In the video analysis, theory of rowing technology was explained and each boat was discussed. Tom patiently answered all the questions, only one thing remained unexplained: What in the world was a stake for in the middle of the lake in front of the rowing center? No matter, we could test and confirm its stability.
Rowing, the sport at different speeds, and sometimes faster than you can see.
All participants were able to make noticeable progress in their technique in the few days. Hopefully there will be a lot of hanging around for practice and rowing at home.
Thanks to Thomas, the rowing technique for saying goodbye was formulated poetically:
Waving up in the rocking chair, we pull ourselves emotionally over the heel from the shoulder to snack on the cream cake!
This was a nice, sociable, sunny, sporty and yet very relaxed week.
A thousand thanks to Audrey for organizing, to Thomas Thallmair for the all-round coaching, to Christiane for supporting and jumping in, to Harald&Simone for the trailer transport and to the great group of those willing to learn. With momentum into the new season, but relaxed!
Konstanze Steinheimer-Breitkreutz
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