On Sept. 4, the first day of the McGill novice rowing (NR) tryouts, the Jacques Cartier bridge braids across the sky. The sounds of cars passing drive like nails against what’s left of last night. Then sleep begins to dissipate, finally, from your veins; it joins the shadows forming your wake. It’s 5:55 a.m..
Figures on bikes climb the opposite hill without their front lights on, their tires swaying like they might be dancing. But the sun hasn’t risen yet, and you know they’re not.
The boathouse is reminiscent of a factory in the cloudy predawn, like a figure in rain boots might step out of a loading bay and light a cigarette. The sky, red over the trees, strains to illuminate the water. A flock of students wiping the sleep from their eyes form most of a circle looking toward the Olympic basin.
This year marks the 100th anniversary since the founding of the McGill University Rowing Club (MURC) and the club’s 48th consecutive season. Tryouts, held in early September for the past 48 years, emphasize bringing beginners to the sport. MURC invites interested students to utilize its world-class facilities during the 10-day trial period. Coaches begin tryouts by running the crowd around the perimeter of the over 2,000-square-metre basin, which they tell prospective team members is the only one of its kind in North America. The students line up to take turns in the indoor practice boat, a contraption called The Tank. The rest sit down on ergometers, ergs—simulation rowing machines that, in the off-season, sculpt race-winning skills.
About 80 athletes are vying for 20 spots: 16 novices and four spares. While the first three days are spent on inclusive fun, the news eventually breaks that the shell is going to fill up: On Monday there will be a test, and that will be the end of the lane for some. But MURC is a well-oiled machine of motivation; the promise of Saturday’s late wake-up (9 a.m.) on the mountain for a fun run with the varsity athletes (celebrities) provides some relief.
The test on Monday morning, 2,000 metres, leaves some in the group less destroyed than others.
Tuesday arrives. The remaining 25 enter the hangar, among varsities for the first time. Getting from the loading bay to the launching dock takes 45 minutes at first—after two tries, it’s done in less than 10.
Three (up from zero last year) coxswains are auditioning for two places on the team, meaning steering is in novice hands as well. Coxies repeat instructions yelled, sometimes rather urgently, by a coach on a bike. Jogging behind are three or four boys, to be swapped into the boat halfway through practice.
The narrower margins of the second half of tryouts bring an air of competition. A crew member who is unsatisfied with his performance on day nine refuses to relinquish his seat for the spare. As the coaches introduce drills to be done in half-boats—stern and bow—unnecessary initiative sometimes tips the boat off its set. Varsities speed out of the mist and past, heads turn and the boat careens toward the basin wall. Everybody is eager to learn, but eagerness can’t replace the two short weeks of work needed before the new MURC novice boats can race, in Ottawa, on Sept. 29.
It’s hard to deny that the NR tryouts feel like an unparalleled opportunity at the end of that first morning. Having a sense of completion about you at 8:00 a.m. is an addictive feeling. It almost tricks you into thinking that there is no other way to live. It seems easy to keep up—until it fades, and you’re dead asleep in a 10 o’clock lecture.
