21

Shanghai, Sunday afternoon:
The bus ride across town from the hotel to the race site only took about half an hour. The 800-meter races were timed events held on the Suzhou Creek, which runs right though town. (We marshalled in the lot where the bus parked.) This is the grandstand where the judges and VIPs watched the races, right in front of the finish line (which by our second heat we had determined exactly where that was). There were lots of people watching from the sides of the creek and windows of nearby buildings, and we nearly tired ourselves just waving as we waited for our turn.