hey guys,

as you all know, i'm not much of a speaker at big events but yeah, i hope this message will get around to all of the guys, both j1s and j2s alike. so yeah here goes, (:

firstly, i would like to thank the j1s for all the hard work you guys have put in these 2 days. they say it is tiring for the competitors but i know it is even more tiring for the supporters. competitors race their own races but supporters race every race for the team. the cheering, the support, the food. our success won't have been complete or even achieved without you guys. so thank you and congratulations on a job well done. rest well and it will be time for you guys to step up soon.

~~~

j2s, 1 word: beautiful.

that is the only way i will describe our performance. from the team coming together to cheer to the way each rower pushed and fought for every single inch, every single stroke, powering our way towards our goals; it was simply beautiful.

i want to say that as your captain i'm really very proud of you guys as my team. you guys showed macritchie what RAFFLES CANOEING really meant today. the way our team stood by each other is the way of a champion team. win or lose, we are always a team. i think that today, you guys have proven it beyond doubt. i believe that if we continue to show this support for each other, we will go very far guys. we must continue to bing this spirit of holding up each other into our training, keep pushing each other and we will climb this summit together guys.

for the victors, you deserve the 100% elation, 100% joy and 100% satisfaction. you guys have trained hard and fought well. for the others, all that is left is 100% resolution and 100% determinaton to do better the next time. the second part of our dreams start now guys. we've been given an excellent chance to make history guys. the chance to leave an inspiring legacy, a motivating story is being handed to us on a plate. we have a chance to put raffles back amongst the big 4 of canoeing. we may have been trodden by others last year but this year we have shown that we've got the grit and the courage to come back and face these giants and that we're not afraid of them.

guys, today i saw a team that was ready to fight to the ends of hell for each other. we race not as individuals but as a team. today i saw a team that believed in themselves. i saw a team that was focussed on what they want was willing to fight every single meter to achieve it. i saw a team that was not afraid of others, a team that knows that they are here to fight and prove a point. but most importantly, i saw a team of 19 individuals held together by a common dream and goal and working together as one single solid unstoppable force to achieve their dream, their goal. this was what we were guys. and this is what we are going to be forever.

4 more months to the biggest race of our career as canoeists-it does not get bigger than that and the only way we are going to be standing tall and victorious on that day, guys, is by pushing ourselves as hard and even harder than we have for the past months.

Know what you want, stare at it hard, and work hard everyday to achieve it. EVERYDAY.

winning is not about going faster than the rest, it is about slowing down less than everyone else.

ps. listen to this with your headphones ya? seriously

Labels: eugene

Updated@10:46 PM