Happy Olympic New Year!
At last, 2012 is here! To be honest, it’s a welcome relief. Christmas is always a busy time of year. This year, as well as the never ending training schedule, we managed to visit four sets of parents up and down the country, as well as going to Manchester for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards.
It was fantastic to be invited to SPOTY again, it’s always an amazing event. With so many sports stars in one room you get goose bumps just looking around and imagining what could be happening in August. One of the highlights this year was when Sir Steve Redgrave was presented with the Lifetime Achievement award. It was great to be on stage to see him get this recognition for what he has achieved not just within the sporting arena but with the charity work he does too. And of course, with the most successful British Olympian being a rower it’s always a good thing for our sport!
One of my most memorable Christmas presents was a bit of a surprise. My mother-in-law-to-be gave me a tiger ‘Onesie’. For those of you who don’t know what a Onesie is, I would direct you to the likes of Justin Bieber and Imogen Thomas who wear these jump suit styled outfits with pride! I have to say mine is one better as it has both feet and a hood with ears. It’s fantastic. A suggestion from Mrs P-to-be is that I try and initiate ‘Onesie Wednesdays’ on Twitter. So why not follow me @ZacPurchase and keep an eye out for variations of me in my tiger Onesie all over the world, but only on a Wednesday!
We are back training as a squad now after the Christmas break, and it’s great to catch up with everyone and find out what people have been up to. Although we go away on camp in a few days there is the inspiration that we are finally in Olympic year and we have a very definite and obvious goal to work towards. Nothing will be better then to finish the season standing in the middle of the podium and hear the national anthem being played in front of thousands of British supporters watching the flag being raised. I cannot wait for that race!