Murray leaves retirement for one day at Japanese indoor rowing champs

Murray raced in the open men’s category and finished with 6’27”2 over 2000m. The winner in men’s open was the defending champion Mark Hartsteen from Denmark with 6’08”1. Danish female rower Kate Petersen, junior female rower Anne Katrine Kiilgaar and junior male rower Esben Sovndahl won in their categories with 7’13”3, 7’41”5 and 6’23”8, respectively. Among the Japanese rowers, 2016 Rio Olympian Ayami Ohishi set a Japanese best time with 7’12”2 in the lightweight women’s category.

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The five elite races entertained a crowd of about 1200 with a professional DJ introducing the participants and giving commentary during the races.

This indoor championship is now an established event with 920 rowers competing – an increase of about five per cent on the previous year. Six of rowers with more than 60 years old and one of the oldest participants, Atsuji Adachi, 71, recorded 7’27”9 in over-70 lightweight male category. Significantly 13 para-rowers competed in this event and Ryohei Ariyasu with LTA-VI (visual impairment) category showed excellent performance with 7’13”6 for 2000m.

Definitely the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games is motivating the athletes and event organisers. The event attracted not only young rowers but also older rowers and para-rowers.

The 2019 Japanese Indoor Rowing Championships will take place on 20 January.

Video here. 

Main results
Open men

1. Mark Hartsteen 6:08.1, age 26, Denmark

2. Shin’ichi Katsumata, 6’14”7, age 23, Toda Chuo Hospital RC

3. Kiyota Noguchi, 6:18.6, age 21, Sendai University

4. Tatsuya Sakurama, 6’19”0, age 21, Doshisha University

5. Eric Murray, 6:27.2, age 35, New Zealand (Gold Medalist)

Lightweight men

1. Hiroshi Nakano, 6:29.0, age 29, Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal (Olympian)

2. Tomoaki Shima, 6’32”3, age 21, Osaka City University

3. Akiyoshi Tsukamoto, 6’32”6, age 32, Toyota Boshoku

4. HidekiMasunari, 6’33”1, age 29, Shinagawa Refractories

5. Mads Fischer, 6:34.4, age 23, Denmark

Open women

1. Kate Petersen, 7:13.3, age 27, Denmark

2. Kyoko Kazusa, 7’15”8, age 24, Denso

3. Yumiko Shoji, 7:26.5, age 25, Denso

4. Mikino Nishida 7:28.7, age 22, Doshisha University

5. Nodoka Kasahara, 7’29”6, age 20, Okayama University

Lightweight women

1. Ayami Oishi, 7’12”2, Age 26, Iris Ohyama

2. Emi Hirouchi, 7’26”2, age 21, Osaka City University

3. Yukiko Katsuya, 7’38”3, age 21, Kobe University

4. Yukiko Ninomiya, 7:41.3, age 20, Kyoto University

5. Yumi Nakamura, 7:42.6, age 22, Osaka University

Junior men

1. Esben Sovndahl, 6:23.8, age 18, Denmark

2. Shoichi Kato, 6’45”2, age 17, Tsu High

3. Kaishin Nakamura, 6’50“9, age 18, Kanzei High

Junior women

1. Anne Katrine Kiilgaar, 7:41.5, age 18, Denmark

2. Arisa Nakano, 7’48”5, age 17, Sakuranomiya High

3. Sora Iwanaga, 7’53”2, age 17, Sakuranomiya High

 

Story by Motoki Kyo, Seta Rowing Club