Two weeks from rowing history
Published:Wednesday | February 17, 2021 | 5:02 AMHubert Lawrence/Gleaner Writer
Shahiede Patterson is two weeks away from an attempt to make rowing history.
Patterson will journey to Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, to compete in the Americas Olympic Continental Qualification Regatta on March 4 and 6. A top- two finish will book him a place to Tokyo and the rescheduled Olympic Games.
If he is successful, he will be the first Jamaican to compete in rowing at the Games.
The 6-feet-1-inch, 180-pound rower reported that the intensity of his training has become tougher with that assignment just around the corner.
“It is definitely getting harder and I recently resumed my final semester of college, so I have to be balancing that and training and stuff, so it is definitely harder for me now,” said the Caribbean Maritime Institute student.
“There’s been some development in the weather condition here, too, it is getting a lot more windy. I guess it’s because we’re coming out of the winter season, so it is harder to get the right conditions to go on the water most days now, so water time has been cut down,” Patterson added.
To adapt, the St Ann’s Bay native has been using a rowing simulator to keep his training on target.
It was a try at using such a machine that got him into the sport in the first place.
“At first, I did fencing but I really didn’t like that. It was too much dancing, as I told everybody. So one day, I saw someone using the Erg machine at school and I said, this looks hard and I tried it once and it wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. I tried it a second time and a more experienced person was there and said, you know your time doesn’t look so bad, and that was motivation for me,” added the former Iona High School student.
As helpful as the simulator is, he clearly prefers the thrill of being on the water.
Now, he is about to bid to be the first Jamaican to compete in rowing at the Olympics. Asked how he felt to be a forerunner in the sport, he replied: “It’s a good feeling, especially when you’re on the water and Palisadoes Highway is right there, where people do their jogs and you’re there doing it and persons are like, wow, we’ve never seen anyone doing this before and things like that. You feel good to know that you are doing something good for the country, and at the same time, you’re doing something most persons haven’t seen before.”
Rowing is one of several sports Jamaica is targeting for first-time qualification. Others include skateboarding and surfing.