Sunday, Aug 24
What an unbelievable trip!!! So many fond memories. So many
new and wonderful friends. A thousand thank yous to the UK
and Irish Pony Clubs, and to our host families for their
unwavering hospitality and generosity. Your tireless efforts
truly made all us feel welcome at every waking moment. I
sincerely hope that we have the opportunity to return the
favor in two years time.
For our final competition we were in a pool of 7 full teams
in conjunction with the Irish national tetrathlon
championships. Here are the results from our final two
phases:
Riding:
Anna 1336
Sara 1336
Kathleen 1086
Geriann 1392
Jenkins 1118
Reed 1200
And our Irish addons:
Sean 1282
Laurence 1400
The riding phase was a full blown preliminary level cross
country course. It was not necessarily big but it was very
technical. Everyone did great.
Running:
Anna
5:52/872pts
Sara 6:09/804pts
Kathleen 7:03/588pts
Geriann 6:50/640pts
Jenkins 12:00/730pts
Reed 11:51/757pts
Sean 11:09/883pts
Laurence 10:31/997pts
The running course was a tough one. Poor Kathleen developed
a leg cramp during the race but heroically managed to push
through to the finish. Tetrathletes never quit!
The boys placed 3rd overall and 3rd amongst the
international teams. The girls placed 4th overall and 3rd
amongst the internationals.
Individually we enjoyed successes as well. Reed tied for
first place in the shoot. Sara got second place in the swim
and 6th place overall. What a way to end such a wonderful
trip.
The plan now is to head up to Shannon tomorrow and maybe
stop in beautiful Kilarney along the way for a brief scenic
tour.
This will be the final update from me for this trip. I will
let the individual team members finish the story when they
get home on Tuesday. However if anyone would like more
complete results or any other information please feel free
to email me,
pentathelite@yahoo.com.
Finally, on behalf of the team I would formally like to
extend our sincere gratitude to everyone from the US and
from Canada who worked so tirelessly to make coming over
here a reality. Your efforts will not soon be forgotten.
A very fond farewell to all,
-Benjamin Sacksen
Friday and Saturday, Aug 22-23
Alright, status update. My apologies for not sending an
update after the shoot yesterday; we had to protest one of
Reed's targets and the shooting results weren't official
until this morning. Our horse matching went very well
yesterday morning. Everybody seems to be quite happy with
the mount they ended up with.
So here are the scores for the shoot:
Anna: 700
Sara: 710
Kathleen: 770
Geriann: 720
Jenkins: 790
Reed: 900
And our Irish addons:
Lawrence O'Brien: 750
Sean Meehan: 760
Not bad. We shot on the regular pentathlon targets that we
shoot at home. 4 minutes for 5 shots, 10 shots in all. Reed
got first place in the shoot with his score! No Blarney!
Swim scores from this morning:
Anna: 912
Sara: 1068
Kathleen: 828
Geriann: 1028
Jenkins: 1074
Reed: 1080
Laurence: 1044
Sean: 966
Congratulations to both of the boys for PRing...AGAIN!
After the swim the teams participated in a 200 metre
relay...just for fun and bragging rights. I am pleased to
announce that the girls team placed 3rd and the boys got
2nd!
Ok, we are off now to walk the cross country course for the
ride tomorrow. They have planned a BBQ tonight and then it's
off to an early bed to rest up for the ride and run
tomorrow. Updates to follow of course as soon as I can get
them.
Cheers!
-Ben
Wednesday and Thursday, Aug 20-21
At last the final phase of our journey is upon us. Tomorrow
we have horse matching and the shooting phase for our Irish
competition.
Our time with the Irish host families has been absolutely
wonderful. We have been treated with the utmost courtesy and
hospitality. Yesterday we were taken to Blarney to see the
famous woolen mills and Castle Blarney. All of us kissed the
famous Blarney stone up on the highest battlement so
apparently we have been granted the gift of gab...oh
great... We did some shopping and the returned home for
delicious dinner prepared by one of the host families. After
eating we went to a nearby town hall for an evening of
Traditional Galic music and dancing.
I feel I should apologize at this point. I have been a
little distracted from my coaching duties the last two days
with my brother's competition in Beijing. I was to excited
to sleep at all last night and today while the rest of the
team met at a sports complex for an afternoon of fun I
remained at my host family's house to watch the riding and
the running live on BBC. It's over now; Sam came in 18th
place. Checkout the NBC olympic website if you want more
info. I also encourage everyone to follow the Woman's
Olympic Pentathlon which runs all day tomorrow.
The team has continued training while staying here and we
are looking forward to another brilliant performance this
weekend. Wish us luck! I'll let you know how the shooting
goes tomorrow.
Cheers!
-Ben
Monday, Aug 18
Wow, a little bit of an adventure getting to Ireland let me
tell you. When the bus that was to pick us up in Hartpury
arrived it turned out to far to small to accommodate the
entire North American contingent along with the metric tonne
of baggage that travels with us. Obviously we missed the
ferry by the time the bigger bus arrived and we traveled the
5 hours from Gloustcester to the port of Pembroke in
northwestern Wales. The ferry only runs every 12 hours so we
got to spend the day exploring surrounding Welsh
countryside. We were allowed to stow our luggage at the
ferry port and the bus dropped us off in nearby Tenby; an
historic and very charming fishing village. After a day of
swimming on the beach, shopping, sampling the local cuisine
(apparently the best fish 'n chips in all of Britain), and
even a movie at a very quaint little cinema we returned to
the port to wait for our 2:45 am ferry. The voyage itself
was quite nice actually. Even though it was storming pretty
hard we only experienced a gentle roll on board since ferry
was so big.
We arrived in the Irish port of Rosslare at 7:30 this
morning to a very gracious reception. The chairman of the
Irish Pony Club was there in person to greet us and invited
us to a nearby hotel for a wonderful breakfast. Another
three hour minibus ride took us to the southwestern town of
Mallow where we split up and went to stay with host
families.
There hasn't been much sleep in the last 36 hours so the
plan now is to take it easy and recover. Training resumes
tomorrow. The team has been wonderful and so upbeat about
the rapid schedule changes that have befallen us. Other then
training, the plan for the week is to tour this part of
Ireland. I'll keep ya'll updated!
-Ben
Sunday, Aug 17
Good showing for team USA today. New PR's in the run for the
boys, same for most of the girls, and a third place finish
for the girls team!
Here are the run results:
Kathleen 6:00/840 pts
Sara 6:01/836 pts
Anna 5:51/876 pts
Geriann 7:00/600 pts
Matt: 13:43/475 pts
Reed: 11:38/796 pts (11 sec PR)
Jenkins: 11:48/766 pts (17 sec PR)
Matt 11:06/892 pts
And as I said the girls team finished 3rd, edging out our
Canadian brethren. The mood here is jubilant to say the
least! Everybody is quite pleased with their personal
performances.
Tomorrow we leave Merry 'ol England for the Emerald Isle. We
are make the trip across the sea by ferry. Apparently the
trip takes two to three hours.
Not certain what the internet situation will be like in
Ireland. Hopefully the blackberry starts working again when
we leave here. I promise I'll do my best to keep everyone
updated as the adventure continues. Cheers everyone!
-Ben
Friday, Aug 15
Good day for team USA! Everyone, and by that I mean every
member of team USA improved their swim performances and
their ride scores today! Here's the breakdown: Shooting
scores:
Kathleen: 820
Sara: 700
Anna: 740
Geriann: 940
Reed: 880
Jenkins 700
And the two British boys competing for our team:
Matt: 740
Josh: 920
Geriann's score tied for first place!
Swimming scores:
Kathleen: 852
Sara: 1084
Anna: 916
Geriann: 1036
Reed: 1047
Jenkins: 1050
Matt: 945
Josh: 1032
As you can see, EVERYBODY's scores improved. Now that we
have experience we could each develop an individual
race/pace strategy and, well...the results speak for
themselves. Ride scores:
Kathleen: 1400
Sara: 1328
Anna: 1400
Geriann: 1376
Reed: 1370
Jenkins: 1268
Matt: 1356
Josh: 1370
Very good riding scores. The girls team got 2nd in the ride
and the boys team got 3rd. Kathleen and Anna both got clear
rounds; 2 of only 5 clear rounds in the girls' competition.
As it stands now we are in a very interesting position.
Geriann is in first place individually amongst the girls!
Our boys' team is only 14 points behind the Canadians and
168 points behind the Brits. The girls are solidly in 3rd
place, 152 points behind the Irish and only 278 points out
of first place! Easy day for us tomorrow. The British Pony
Club kids are all riding their cross country phase so we
have the day off. The plan is to take it easy and then go
for a very easy pre-competition team run in the evening. We
need to run like the wind and the team knows it. Our team is
taking it very seriously.
The blackberry isn't working at the moment so if anybody
want to more information from me about anything please send
email to my address at:pentathelite@yahoo.com
Include "Tet Exchange" in the subject line. Hopefully I can
figure out whats wrong with the blackberry before we leave
Hartpury and I lose internet service again.
More updates to follow.
-Ben
Thursday, Aug 14th
The team is all back together now after our time apart with
the various host families! Apparently everyone has a
marvelous time! I heard stories of water-skiing, exercising
the hounds on horseback with the local hunt, clay pigeon
shooting, and even a day in the historic Salisbury to see
the market and the famous cathedral where the Magna Carta is
kept. The team also had time to train. Everyone went on
daily runs and on several days they got to shoot.
The Americans and Canadians arrived on the bus here in
Hartpury (I spelled it Heartberry last time cuz
well...that's what it sounds like when a Brit says it) last
night to a very warm reception by our British hosts. After a
formal meet 'n greet we turned in to try and get a full
night sleep after our busy week. Shirley and I have
encouraged the team to get as much down time as possible
during the day to prepare for competition tomorrow. The
shoot, swim and ride are all tomorrow.
Ok, the staff has arranged some practice shooting time for
us right now so I'm off. We have horse matching/jury rides
this evening. Exciting stuff here. I'll send results
tomorrow night.
-Ben
Day 6
Ride results. Out of 1400:
Reed: 1310
Kathleen: 1238
Anna: 1310
Geriann: 1370
Jenkins: 1238
Sara: 1206
Run times/scores:
Boys (3000m)
Jenkins: 12:06/712
Reed: 11:49/763
Girls (1500m)
Anna: 5:57/852
Kathleen: 6:11/796
Geriann: 7:10/560
Sara: 5:56/856
Unfortunately both the boys and the girls came in fourth.
The girls however were very close to 2nd place. The girls
missed 2nd place by 140 points... not bad considering the
2nd place (Canadian) team had a score of 11662.
The team has now split up and gone to stay with host
families. There probably won't be much team news to report
from this end until we all get together on Wednesday.
A few comments about the last competition: There we
definitely some notable individual performances. In the
shooting, Geriann was part of a four-way tie for first place
with her score of 900. The whole team had a strong swim.
Sara tied for second place in her swim. The ride was by all
accounts quite difficult. It was windy and cold with rain
off and on. There where only two clear rounds the entire
day. Special thanks to Shirley for coaching the Americans to
do as well as we did. Our team did most definitely not
embarrass ourselves with the performance we had.
The most important thing to come out of this whole thing is
the fact that the team got a good taste of what the
competition is like over here. We are now in a good position
to scrutinize our performance and those of the other
competitors so that we can identify our strong and weak
points. Our next team meeting will involve a good deal of
discussion of competition strategy. The team is on their own
now and I've given them running workouts to do on their own
along with some dry fire exercises.
Shirley and I are quite confident that Team USA will deliver
a much stronger performance next weekend at the national
competition in Hartberry. Until then I'll be sure to keep
you updated with any team news that happens. If any of you
would like more specific information about the competition
or anything else, feel free to send an email directly to
this Blackberry.
uspctet08@vzw.blackberry.net
Cheers!
-ben
Day 4
Well, the competition is underway in Beijing, and here
as well! Today as you probably know, we mixed it up for the
first time on the international scene. Our team shot and
swam today, and rather successfully I might add. Here are
the actual point scores for the team's shooting performance.
Kathleen - 820
Geriann - 900
Anna - 640
Sara - 860
Jenkins - 920
Reed - 920
Remember that the shooting here is completely different from
the US. The target is different and we only get four seconds
per shot. The boys did very well as you see. They tied for
second place over all in the competition! Alright! The
swimming scores for our team:
Geriann - 1000
Anna - 904
Sara - 1064
Kathleen - 822
Jenkins - 1029
Reed - 1032
I don't have times for you because the format is again
different. Instead of the two hundred metre timed swim, you
swim as far as possible in four minutes (3 minutes for
girls). This presents a problem for our group since none of
us (myself included unfortunately) have an idea how to plan
a race strategy for something like this. But now we have a
much better idea what to expect. You can count on better
scores next time we swim. Even so our scores were not bad at
all. Apparently anything over 1000 is very good. So we had a
good first day. As it sits now our best performer at this
point is Sara who sits in 3rd place amongst all the girls
after two events. Tomorrow we have a break. The local
regional competition is riding their cross country course
and we get to help jump judge and the like. Sunday for us is
the run and ride. The team is in high spirits. I'll let you
know how it goes.
Cheers!
-ben
Day 3
Short update: Saw Stonehenge today. We are all housed
now in a boarding school near where the first competition
will be. Attended a reception and finally met the English
and Irish teams. First competition begins tomorrow. Shooting
first and swimming second. Will let you know how it goes.
Very tired now. Later!
-ben
Day 2
Another fun filled day. Up early to catch a train to
london. Spent the day seeing the sights. The houses of
parliament, big ben (obviously, they are one in the same),
westminster abby, the entrance to buckingham palace (the
palace itself is about 2 miles from the gate). After lunch
we spent time at the covent garden, an outdoor market with
lots of nice shops and loads of street theater. Shirley
served as guide throughout the day. When we got back we had
time for a brief shooting practice before dinner. This
evening we attended a BBQ with the canadians and the local
pony club. More fun and socializing. The british have been
such gracious hosts so far it's been marvelous. Not entirely
sure what the plan is for tomorrow but I will most
definately keep you posted. Goodnight all!
-ben
Day 1
The first day is finally over. My what a long day it was
too. Feels like waking up Monday morning happened a really
long time ago. The team has not slept much at all since
then. Anyway, after arriving in London early this morning,
the team split up with their respective host families to
meet with them, have lunch and relax for a bit. Not much
down time though because we met in one of the parks nearby
for our first team run. It was raining a little and we all
got extremely muddy but a good time was had by all. After
the run we were taken to a community pool nearby for a one
hour workout. It was a light workout and we focused more on
technique than conditioning since everyone is tapering for
competition. For dinner we where taken to very nice house
where we met the Canadian team as well as some of the kids
and parents from the local Pony Club. Wonderful food,
football frisbee and even an international slot car racing
challenge highlighted the evening. Tomorrow the plan is to
take the train into London and sight see in. The city.
Sending pictures will be quite difficult as I have not had
even a whisper of internet service since our arrival but
rest assured, If I can send pictures at some point I most
defiantly will. Take care everyone. I will try to write
tomorrow evening after the London trip. Cheers!
-ben
