Duncan Free is blogging on his own website. He reflects on the journey he and Drew Ginn have taken to get them to the Olympic Games.

Unorthodox

Well, our whole time together rowing the pair in the last 3 years with Drew living 1700km away in Melbourne and me on the Gold Coast has been quite unorthodox…..some things never change.

We had our semi today which saw a good outcome with a good win. I guess what we did different this time was that in our three days off after our heat on Saturday, we got to row 4km together on one occasion. The rest of our training was done on an ergo for me and a stationary bike for Drew. This wasn't by choice.

For those of you that keep tabs of Drew's Blog, you'll know that he has had some back trouble which creates quite an amount of discomfort for him to sit down, let alone row. With all possible thoughts going though both our minds, he soldiered on and was able to get though the 2km race today. What an effort!!

Although traditionally not an ideal preparation, but it goes to show that you can achieve the same result by doing things a little differently, outside the square, somewhat unorthodox!

It actually gets you thinking what else in rowing or other areas in your life can you do things out of the ordinary or unheard of that will get you to the same place or even somewhere better??

Anyway, we had a good row today and looking forward to stepping up for the final, along the way praying that Drew back eases up for him!!!

Its great to have family over here as well. Mum, Dad, Marcus and Anita have been here for a few days and my lovely wife Belinda arrived last night and it was great to see her today.