Eleven and a half months ago at the U19 worlds the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium was on its absolutely worst behaviour. Torrential rain, wind (lots of wind), hail, incredibly bumpy water, cancelled rowing sessions and a programme squeezed in between storms. Olympians all over the world started planning for the worst.
Photo GBR M8+
Now, however, we have docile Marnes. Calm water, a mild tailwind breeze, great rowing conditions and a general air of “storms, what storms?” The venue is playing surprisingly nice with the class of Paris 2024.
The forecast does include a threat of brief thunderstorms next Wednesday and Thursday, which might affect the first few finals, but it seems to be changing rapidly and even with thunder looming the wind forecast is average to low which is half the battle. Racing and training can stop, compress or be postponed to allow for thunder and lightning, but it’s the major wind which causes many more issues.
It helps that the programme at an Olympics is so short, leaving plenty of time to tweak timings in an emergency. And just to be certain, there are spare days at the end of the rowing week in case they are needed before the venue switches over to flat-water canoe-kayak. On the flip side we look set to get every possible direction of wind at some point throughout the eight days of rowing, albeit not too strong, and sheltered by the many trees around this country-park style course. It’s what Strathclyde Park aims for but doesn’t quite achieve, and has a lot in common with Brive-La-Gaillarde. The beach area isn’t on the main lake but slightly to the south of the boathouse, on an unconnected pond which will be open for spectators to try out rowing and canoeing during the Games.
What about the rest? The grandstands, boathouse and other infrastructure look down onto the bowl of a course from above, with plenty of space and lots of room for warm-up areas for both rowers and canoeists/kayakers. The wildwater canoeing (aka slalom) course is just between the entry road and the main boathouse area, with its own toweringly steep grandstand, while the rowing course stretches away to the west from the entrances. There’s masses of space for boats and rigging, and the roof of the boathouse, dug back into the hillside in a typical European style, has mini pavilions for each national federation, and space for athletes to see races coming towards them while they warm up on ergs and bikes.
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Drag
There are vast spectator grandstands, and a rather good-looking finish tower in mid-lake opposite the media tribune and spectators, with a walkway leading to it along which all the competing nations’ flags are fluttering. A solid edge (possibly floating sausage-shaped buoys/balloons, but too far away to see) prevents anything on the outer lake affecting competition, and the edges on the spectator side are shelved gently and lined with matting to encourage plant growth and weaken wash effects. These should be small anyway since for many years now the World Rowing protocol has stationary umpires’ launches.
Along the side of the lake is a standard cycling path, quite broad, but we hear that the camera cars which this venue will use may not be able to share that space with the cycling coaches. Behind the path, once the grandstands run out, are spectator areas and facilities for those who have paid for their tickets. A big push on vegetarian eating is signalled by signs such as “The Chou Must Go On” (chou = cabbage), and that well-known Caesarean quote “Veni Vidi Veggie”. The local goose flock will be happy to hear they’re not on the menu, however their own offerings are currently decorating the path up to the mix zone from the medal raft, which may need hosing down before athletes start coming up it. A phenomenon many boat clubs will be familiar with.
Marks out of ten? A good solid 8 for structure, and let’s see about the weather. There’s a long way to go for this regatta.
