Rowing, more than a sport

Diane and her erg
© Diane Godorov

Diane Godorov can’t believe her luck.  She had no idea that her ?dear all? letters from the front line in Iraq would touch so many of her rowing friends, nor mobilise them with such vigour.   

Diane is a Captain in the US Army Medical Corp and she is currently in Iraq with the 4^th Infantry Division.  As an army medic she was sent over to care for US soldiers, however she has also been able to put her paediatrician skills to work, providing medical care for Iraqi children as well as undertaking humanitarian aid missions. 

One day last Autumn, out of the blue, a brand new Concept 2 ergometer was delivered to Diane at her Army base 20 miles north of Tikrit, Iraq – about nine miles as the crow flies from where Saddam Hussein was captured. 

It transpired that her one of her friends, understanding her passion for rowing, had secretly passed on her email to her rowing community.  Under the direction of Geoffrey Knauth, a fellow rower but unknown to Diane, a group of her friends collected money to buy and send to her, her very own ergometer. 

She easily convinced her Battalion Commander of the benefits of low impact training and the erg has become quite a talking point around the base and the wider reaches of the 4^th Infantry Division.  ?Rowers are all over and have a bond that is so hard to describe,? says Diane.  She can’t quite believe how uniting a sport can be. 

Her love of rowing began whilst at high school in 1977 where she was also a successful club rower in the off season.  She continued through university where her social life revolved around fellow oarsmen and women.  In 1984 she moved to Europe.  Ten years, various rivers and two children later she was back in the US.  Not content with only rowing for herself, she became an active committee club member and has been a rowing umpire for the last ten years. 

Diane is looking forward to her return, with her erg, at the beginning of April and she says that she ?can’t wait to get back into the umpires seat?.  She plans to donate her well-travelled erg to Fort Hood in Texas.