Style, size and variety at the indoor rowing champs

Indoor rowing competitions have come a long way since their roots next to the frozen Charles River in Boston, United States. The Crash-B World Indoor Rowing Championships celebrated its 25th anniversary last weekend by moving to a new, bigger venue.

The intrepid team of Crash-B organisers moved to the state-of-the-art Agganis Arena to deal with the growth of the sport. Equipping the arena for the onslaught of spinning ergometers, extra rubbish cans were added to the competition floor ? just in case. Water was sprayed, not to cool, but to cut down on the transfer of static electricity and organisers did everything from feeding results to finding lost yellow rubber chickens.

Over 2,000 indoor rowers raced for the coveted first prize hammer with the open women’s event boasting 333 of those competitors. South Africa’s top woman rower, Rika Geyser walked away with the hammer after finishing in 6:40 with her unique, pull-up-very-high-at-the-finish technique.

Fastest man of the event, Graham Benton from Great Britain, clocked a time of 5:46 for the 2,000 metre distance. Benton came to indoor rowing as a gym rat but has since tried the on-the-water variety of the sport and is now part of Great Britain’s talent identification programme.

One world record was set.  American Stephen Richardson, from the Squamscott Scullers, finished in a time of 9:17.5 in the men’s 85 ? 89 age heavyweight division. Richardson checked in as the oldest rower with ages ranging at the event right down to the youngest of 14 years old.

A demonstration of groundbreaking technology showed the future of paraplegic indoor rowing. FES ? Functional Electrical Stimulation ? helps paraplegics exercise by stimulating their paralyzed leg muscles. Developed by Brunel University in Great Britain, the FES rowing machine will allow people with spinal disabilities to row. Winner of the demonstration event, Robin Gibbons from Great Britain has developed enough strength to stand since he started using the FES rowing machine. 

Selected results:
Lightweight women
1 Katrien Hautvast                 Netherlands                      7:08.00
2 Marit van Eupen                 Netherlands                      7:09.10
3 Juliane Elander                  Odder, Denmark              7:11.50

Lightweight men
1 Elia Luini                              Italy                                    6:06.70  
2 Mads Rasmussen               Denmark                          6:09.20 
3 Marcello Miani                     Italy                                    6:13.40  

Open women
1 Rika Geyser                        Team South Africa                     6:40.20
2 Anna-Marie de Zwager      Gorge Rowing Club, Canada   6:42.70
3 Maria Stevens                     Unaffiliated (USA)                      6:44.20

Open Men
1 Graham Benton                   Great Britain                             5:46.40
2 Mark Flickinger                    US National Team                   5:47.30
3 Dario Dentale                       Italy                                            5:48.10

Junior Women
1 Nora Franzen                      Germany                               6:53.90 
2 Chantal Weibel                   Switzerland                           6:57.00 
3 Camilla Espana                  Italy                                        7:03.00

Junior Men
1 Bruno Rosetti                      Italy                                       5:59.10 
2 Francesco Fossi                Italy                                       6:03.40 
3 Dominic Rossetto              Germany                              6:06.10

For a full list of results go to: www.crash-b.org

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