The biggest problem in rowing is that you look towards the back that you can't possibly know exactly when you'll cross the finish line. And you're so tunnelled

The biggest problem in rowing is that you look towards the back that you can't possibly know exactly when you'll cross the finish line. And you're so tunnelled after even 200m of racing (very narrow field of vision, due to unbelievable exhaustion + pain, with the nagging though of 1800m still to go...) that you can't count the buoys either to make out the distance to the finish line. For most of the races I had in my active career, I can barely remember the final 500m of a race. You're just concentrating on every single stroke and trying to squeeze the maximum out of your body. Trying to "rush" to finish line is absolutely impossible.