Rowers of all ages and abilities race at CRASH-Bs

The adaptive categories number 26 and are very much at the development stage. Adaptive racing on the rowing machine is a relatively new area and CRASH-Bs first embraced the categories three years ago.

“We had been thinking about doing so for a few years prior, but with FISA implementing rowing as a Paralympic event, we thought that we would be under-serving the rowing community if we didn’t provide the same kind of opportunity,” says CRASH-Bs commodore Linda Muri. CRASH-Bs also follows the FISA distance for adaptive rowing of 1,000m.

The rowing machines are adapted to suit the different categories, “Some ergs are adapted with fixed seats for rowers who can’t use their legs for rowing, others have the back end of the machine raised to help with balance issues, for example,” says Muri.

This year Brazil showed their strength in adaptive rowing with Antony Deraldo winning the AS men’s category in a time of 4:05 – a full 48 seconds ahead of second placed Jason Graber of the United States. Brazil’s Claudia Santos then won the AS women’s race finishing in 4:44, a margin of 52 seconds over second-placed Dana Fink (USA). Santos is a Paralympian and currently ranks fifth in the world in the AS women’s single sculls.

Brazil sent just eight athletes to Boston but came away with three gold medals – or rather CRASH-Bs winner hammers. As well as their adaptive wins, Marcos Ipiapina won the junior men’s division in a time of 6:10.

At CRASH-Bs, masters categories start at age 30 up to the age of 39, seniors categories range from 40 to 49 years, and veteran categories start at age 50 through to 99 years old. The oldest competitor this year was Stephen Richardson (USA) who is 91 years old. Richardson won his category in a time of 11:58.2. Amongst the women Dorothy Dorion (USA) was the oldest at 78. Dorion clocked 9:47.4 to win a hammer.

One of the most competitive categories was the 40 – 49 year old women. This was won by Denmark’s Margit Haahr Hanson in a time of 6:55.6. Hanson was just seven seconds off the World Record for her age group – a record that was set in 2003 by a then US national team rower, Carol Skricki. Hanson is used to racing national team rowers. Last month she finished second at the Danish Indoor Rowing Championships behind Denmark’s top woman single sculler.

Second in the 40 – 49 age group was Heather Koerber of the United States. Koerber is a regular competitor at CRASH-Bs and has won in previous years. Sylvia Ruth Buddenbohn of Germany was third with Mexico’s former national team rower, Martha Garcia in fourth.

One of the tightest races of the day was fought between two competitors who use the rowing machine as part of their fitness regime. Morgan Funke and Nicole Herchenbach both raced in the 30 – 39 year old women’s category and ended just 4/100th of a second apart at the end. Both Americans, Funke rows for RowFit and Herchenbach for CrossFit. 

The main sponsor of CRASH-Bs is Concept2 who design and make the indoor rowing machines. Endorsing their product in the best way possible were the owners of Concept2, the Dreissigacker brothers. Older brother, Dick, 64, finished just ahead of younger brother, Peter, 60, in the 60–64 year old age group. Dick clocked a time of 7:01 with Peter finishing in 7:05 to take out seventh and ninth place respectively.

For all results click here.