BaselHead takes place on the river Rhine in Basel, Switzerland. The Mirabaud Classic Race is a pursuit over 6 km where boats start at 20-second intervals. The race starts right in the heart of Basel, at the Kaserne, goes upstream to the power dam at Birsfelden, turns and finishes again at the Kaserne. The highest point, reached when the boat is turning, is about 0.8 m higher than the lowest point. Water temperature during the race was 11.2° Celsius. The weather was sunny with a little bit of wind from the East (more or less aligned with the river’s flow).
The official race time was 18:57.51, 36.02 seconds behind the winner, "Ruderleistungszentrum Dortmund 1". The stroke rate was chosen between 35 and 36 strokes per minute with higher rates at the start, after the turn and at the finish sprint. The figure below shows the stroke rate for every single stroke. The turn is clearly visible at around 3000 m where the stroke rate has some "jumps". The red colored strokes mark the first 100 m, the green colored strokes the upstream and the blue colored dots the downstream. The color shade changes every 750m.
The boat speed clearly differed between upstream and downstream, reflecting the influence of the current (more about this in a later post). 500 m time for upstream was between 1:45 and 2:00 and for downstream between 1:15 and 1:20. The color-coded satellite overlay further exemplifies this large difference between upstream and downstream.
The acceleration pattern was very consistent and regular throughout the race, highlighting the crew's top level. No difference could be observed between upstream and downstream. The crew was also able to perfectly pace themselves as no increase in irregularity or a change in the pattern towards the end can be observed. If your crew achieves such a pattern, they are ready for the Olympic games (but there is still room for improvement, more about this in a later post).
For those of you who see such a graph the first time: it shows the color-coded boat acceleration. The acceleration is cut at every stroke, during the acceleration minimum in the check phase, and stacked on top of each other. The very first stroke is on the bottom and the last stroke on the top. The duration of a stroke is the length of each line towards the right.
This information quickly provides a comprehensive overview of the boat's performance. It serves as a versatile tool for verifying hypotheses and assists both the coxswain and rowers in selecting the most effective strategy. The same data was collected during three training sessions prior to the race (twice on Friday and once on Saturday morning before the sprint), enabling the coxswain and the rowers to determine the optimal trajectory and pacing strategy.
By providing such data to the crew, each member gains a deeper understanding of their performance. They can identify specific areas with potential for improvement and quantify these opportunities, thereby enhancing motivation for training and increasing overall efficiency.
We will explore these aspects in greater detail in subsequent posts.