NSW Australian Athletes - Renee Kirby

Athlete profile: Renée Kirby

Last weekend show-cased the rowing world’s up-and-coming athletes at the Under 23 World Championships in Strathclyde, Scotland, and amongst those competing were some of the very athletes that we have read about in these profiles. This week I spoke to one of the friendliest and warmest athletes on the team who raced in the women’s quad and won a silver medal, Renee Kirby. Telling us all about training camps, racing, and fast first 500m’s, Renee’s interview is a wonderful demonstration of what sacrifice and hard work, a great crew, and a big smile can achieve.  

Renee Kirby (left) & Charlotte Walters (AUS U23 W4x)

How did you find the lead-up to the World Championships?

I had to drop half my University courses, had a back injury, my car got written off in Melbourne and British Airways lost my luggage on the way to Scotland (still no sign).  Living by “the lower the lows the higher the highs” my lead-up to the Championships couldn’t have gone better!

What was the biggest set-back in your training before heading overseas?

Definitely my back.  It is the first time I have had an injury where it has forced me out of the boat.  I think it was really tough on the other girls in the team and I really felt for them.  The Victorian Institute of Sport were incredibly accommodating, however none of the treatment was working for the first few weeks and it did put a little strain on the crew.  I was pretty confident with the training I had behind me and by the time we hit the starting blocks it didn’t even cross our minds.

photo supplied from http://www.melbastudios.com.au

2007 NSW State Championships - WU21 1x

What were the best and worst things about relocating?

Definitely the coffee.  Not as good as Italy though.  In terms of rowing though, getting to know Victoria’s support network and the rowing community was a great experience – it was very interesting to see how another state operated.  Also the family I was billeted with are absolutely gorgeous people and they made it so easy to feel comfortable.  The worst was definitely only knowing 20 people for 10 weeks. 

How did you find it racing in a quad (i.e. sculling) when previous years you have represented Australia in fours (i.e. sweep)?

I think with the quad you really have to work hard towards getting everyone in the crew working together for a ‘give-take’ relationship.  The crew is made up of athletes who spend the season working by themselves and I believe it is a completely different skill to work as a team.  The quad is known to be really close racing and I think we definitely proved that in all 3 races.

photo supplied from http://www.melbastudios.com.au

2007 NSW State Championships - WE8+ (7 seat)

How was the training in Varese?

I LOVE Varese!  Gorgeous water, gorgeous weather and beautifully picturesque!  Though I was a little disappointed that there wasn’t a heat-wave in Europe this year… but I guess 35 degrees each day was close enough.  It was great getting to know everyone in the team, training with them and racing against them.  The swimming pool at the hotel was the highlight as always.

What was the course like?

When we turned up on the first day the sky was blue and the water was perfect!  It is truly a beautiful course.  Strathclyde is very green and there is a theme park right next door.  However as soon as we went to put our boats on the water it started to blow.  Each day it got worse.  By finals it wasn’t pleasant, putting it nicely.  Two boats in our final got boat-stopping crabs and we got a small crab about 100m from the finish line where we lost a bit of ground.  Not pretty.

Out of the three races, which do you think you executed the best?

Definitely the final.  We went into the last race with an aim of really attacking out of the blocks.  We achieved that in the final, going through the 500m in second place.  Though there was some very ugly rowing happening thanks to the wind and water but we dealt with it much better than some of the other crews.

You were forced to go through the repecharges, how did this effect the plan? Do you think it was actually beneficial?

It was definitely beneficial.  Without the repecharge I don’t think we would have emphasized our real need to attack the first 500m.  In the final the calmest water was out of the blocks so it was really important for us to come out up front.  Saying this though, the repercharge was an incredibly intense race with the first three boats crossing the line within one second of each other (with a progression of two.) Most of the Australian supporters admitted to us afterwards that they stopped watching the race when we were in 5^th place at the 500m gone – thank goodness we made it through!

photo supplied from http://www.melbastudios.com.au

2007 NSW State Championships - WE4x (2 seat)

Did you have specific race tactics going into the regatta?

Leading into the regatta our mentality was more “head in our own boat” as we knew nothing about our opponents.  It was after the heats and reps that we could then decide how we could improve our racing relative to everyone else. Despite our continuous pattern of coming from behind and literally leaving it to the last 50m, it was never our intention.  Trust me; leaving it to the end doesn’t always work.  So under Brenton’s instructions (and after a few new grey hairs) we refocused on our starts.

How much did you look at other crews’ tactics? Did this influence your own?

We got to learn the other crews’ tactics through observation; however we only used it as a guide for where we needed to improve our boat, for instance our starts.  Also when it comes to the final all the crews step up their game incredibly and suddenly some fly out of the start in an effort to ‘just hold on’ for the rest of the distance.  We were happy with how consistent we were through the race and just changed our attitude towards our starts.  We used the other crews to make pushes against them which of course just ended up as one continuous ‘push’ for the whole 2km.

What do you think was the biggest strength in the crew?

Four really stubborn girls.  People’s strengths are also their weaknesses… and we’re damn proud of it!

What was the best thing about the regatta?

I loved that it was such a big team with a lot of Aussie pride.  I think that’s what makes a great regatta – the teammates and supporters.

Verena Stocker

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