Our second Marina Del Rey regatta was a huge success.
A large crowd of friends, relatives, and fans overflowed the Marina del Rey hotel to watch my new partner and coach, Iva Obradovic, and I, start and finish the race in great syle. And the afterparty where everyone got to know Iva, was the highlight of the event.
There was a smaller number of participants, as with most local races, but we were still thrilled to walk away with the gold medal for being first in our category. Iva is so wonderful as a coach, and so warm and friendly as a person, that the crowd took to her instantly.
We did a respectable 22 minutes and 53 seconds for the 5000 meter distance which was converted to 21 minutes and 9 seconds when our age handicap was applied.