Recovering from Loe blow
Olivia Loe was in the “hurt box”. In a big way. That’s nothing out of the ordinary for a rower, though the location probably was. Loe was squeezed into a small garage in Cambridge, pounding away on an erg machine. Beside her, another teammate was doing the same, while a third was suffering nearby on a stationary bike. All Loe could think about was the pain of the previous 30 minutes and the fact she still had another 90 to endure, as the lactic acid began to kick in.
“You can’t beat the erg, it just stares at you the whole time,” Loe tells the Herald.
“We normally just supplement our work on the erg, so to do full sessions was something else. There was a sense of achievement that we managed to do it . . . but would I do it again? No.”
If Loe, the double sculls world champion with Brooke Donoghue, achieves the ultimate at next year’s Tokyo Olympics, she will think back to the never-ending sessions in the garage as a key pillar of their success.
“All over the world, a lot of people were holidaying or relaxing. We definitely didn’t take that approach,” says Loe. “We just kept on going. It was definitely tough.”
Wind the clock back to March 25. New Zealand has shut its border to non-residents and citizens and is going into full lockdown the following day.
At the Rowing New Zealand headquarters at Lake Karapiro, there are some final briefings before boats are locked away. The elite squad disperse after grabbing gym equipment, bikes and rowing machines.
To add to the uncertainty, the postponement of the 2020 Olympics was confirmed that morning, with the new dates announced five days later.
“There were a lot of unknowns,” says James Coote, coach of Loe and Donoghue. “But we decided to continue with the programme. It was definitely tough. They learnt a lot about themselves at that time. But that’s the reason they are world champions — they think differently and are able to push themselves.”
Loe and the three other rowers she lives with had to replicate what they would normally do on the water, which meant daily two-hour sessions on the erg, sometimes twice a day if the weather closed in and meant they couldn’t go for a run or bike ride.
“I never thought I’d spend that much time on an erg ever,” says Loe. “You had to be tough to get through some of the sessions they set for us.”
Loe had conflicting emotions. She is used to the grind but admits it was difficult to find the focus at first.
“The toughest part was trying to place what you were doing the work for; where it sat in terms of reaching your Olympic goal. We had no racing, no pinnacle event for 18 months, and you are sitting there, grinding away in the hurt box, thinking, ‘but why?’”
But chats with the coaches helped to gain perspective on the overall aims as heart rate monitors and erg scores were collected daily.
“It was gruelling for them,” says Coote. “They had to push. We tried not to go backwards over that time, but they had actually gone forward in some markers and held on to some other ones. It was huge.”
Life is more normal now. The team had a break in July but have been back training for the past nine weeks. It’s an extended lead
Olivia Loe has endured countless punishing twohour sessions on the erg this year. in to Tokyo— effectively their training block will be 11 weeks longer than normal, with the cancellation of all major events this year.
Like most, Loe needed some mental adjustment to process the new reality but has accepted it now.
She has had to scrap most of her career, since first relocating to Cambridge a decade ago. She had an extended stint in the under-23 crews, then consecutive years as a reserve in 2015 and 2016. It’s an uncomfortable void for a rower; knowing you are good but not quite good enough, doing all the training but watching from afar come competition time.
“In my first year, I was young, I learnt so much and I felt very grateful to be part of it. But no one wants to be reserve again. It takes more selfmotivation, discipline, and the first half of my second year was tough.”
Loe has been dedicated to the sport since 2004, when she first picked up oars aged 12 at the Avon Rowing Club in Christchurch, but wondered if she was on the right path.
“I was thinking, ‘is this for me?’” recalls Loe. “You can’t help but think that. Everyone here is so competitive, you want to be the best but I wasn’t sure. You don’t want to be the one that does all the work and never quite cracks it.”
Loe says the second half of 2016, which included her experience as a travelling reserve at the Rio Olympics, was a turning point.
“I had to get over myself and do the job I was given. I couldn’t argue it. I had no grounds, so I had to work.”
Since then, her progress has been sublime. Loe teamed with Donoghue in early 2017 and they have been nearperfect: two world championship golds and a silver, plus five World Cup triumphs.
“Most people don’t do it that way, sitting on the fringe for a long time and then diving in the deep end,” says Loe.
“The crews one or two cycles before me seemed somewhat legendary — you almost pinch yourself that you managed to follow suit a little bit.
“I never thought I’d achieve whatwe have so far but we’re by no means done yet.
“It won’t mean anything unless we get the Olympic one.” — NZ Herald
What a gamea handful of fans witnessed at Rotorua’s International Stadium on Saturday night as the hometeam, the Bay of Plenty Steamers, needed all they had to fend off Southland 17-14 in the Mitre 10 Cup.
The rank underdogs nearly pulled off an unlikely victory, but it was not to be. There was a sole Otere Black penalty in the second half, as both side spent long stints campedinside the 22, having been locked at 14-all at halftime.
The Bay of Plenty will gratefully take four competition points, but will knowthey got away with one here.
They battered away for around 10 minutes at the start of the half but failed to score against a brave Southland outfit.
Their substitutes failed to really impact the game, as the scrum switched in Southland's favour.
Bay of Plenty’s All Blacks captain Samcane put in one of his performances of the year, finally snapping his losing streak that dragged through Super Rugby Aotearoa with the Chiefs and into the opening round of the Mitre 10 Cup, while Tevita Mafileo and Kane
Leaupepe also put in dominant displays. Black took control towards the end, driving his team around the park and his starting halves partner, Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi, also had a strong outing.
Southland will be bitterly disappointed they couldn't get something out of that, and theymay regret not taking a late shot at goal and trying to force extra time, although the kick to the corner felt like the right decision at the time.
They started slightly slowly but grew into the match, as tight forwards Greg Pleasants-tate and Manaaki Selby-rickit were strong again. Inside Takarangi and then Crowley were both strong around the rucks, but the other starting midfield backs were slightly poor.
Ray Nu'u did add spark in the middle of the field off the bench, while all three starting outsides in Van Vugt, Moorby and especially Nicole impressed.
The Stags will be hoping for a full crowd assumingweare at level 1 whenthey host a shaken up North Harbour side next week, and they will fancy their chances. The Steamers, will face an even tougher task away to Wellington, so they mustmake improvements. — Tribe