INDOOR ROWING NEWSLETTER #108 ====================== 19-August-2004 ======================= _________________________________________________ C O N T E N T S 1. Newsletter Special Offer 2. Olympic Games 3. Tracey Brown 4. Pink Lady Atlantic Row 5. Concept 2 British Rowathlon Series 6. Upcoming Races And Events **************************** Feedback Back Issues Subscription Information ________________________________________________________________ With Bells On ***************** For a glitzier, HTML version of our newsletter with pictures and all, go to: http://www.concept2.co.uk/email/newsletter.htm. To receive the newsletter in HTML format, click on Update Profile at the bottom of this page and change your preferences to HTML. ========================================================= Newsletter Special Offer: ========================================================= This week's special offer is a bit of special meal combo one. Basically, if you buy any chestbelt, either the standard chestbelt transmitter for £29.99 or the comfier Wearlink chestbelt transmitter for £34.99, you'll receive a Science In Sport starter pack comprising of 100g of PSP 22 Energy Sports Fuel, 100g of REGO Total Recovery fuel and 120g of GO Sports fuel. As this would normally cost you £5.55 plus £4 in postage and packing, it's a pretty good little bundle. Food and drink supplements are amongst the fastest growing areas of sports science and Science In Sport are the forerunners in the field, providing supplements to many of the leading names around. To take advantage of this offer, go to http://www.concept2.co.uk/shop/chestbealts_offer.php. For the full range of supplements sold on our site, check out http://www.concept2.co.uk/shop/food_supplements.php ========================================================= Olympic Games ========================================================= Apart from the quality of much of the BBC's commentary (especially in the swimming, basketball and anything involving Barry Davies), the most annoying thing about these Olympics is how lack of an initial British sporting success saw the emergence of several proper rubbish articles in the broadsheets about the crisis facing British sport. We're glad to be able to say that with any luck indoor rowing will save the day. Or rather a) some athletes who use the Indoor Rower are doing pretty well and b) we've never seen a bandwagon we haven't wanted to jump on. First off, Britain is still ruling the waves in the sailing, with the possibility of winning seven medals in the nine classes we're represented in. For a while now, Concept 2 has been an official sponsor to the British sailing team, providing machines to all the top athletes. The Indoor Rower has become integrated into the fitness assessments and training regimes of every member of the RYA Youth and Senior sailing squads. This means that over 600 elite sailors are tested on the machine twice a year and their performances logged and benchmarked. One of the most enthusiastic indoor rowers in the sailing team is Ben Ainslie, who has put the disappointment of his first couple of races behind him to look well placed to repeat the gold he won in Sydney. This time Ben is competing in the more physically demanding Finn class and has stepped up his work on the Indoor Rower to prepare himself. You can find a profile of Ben at http://www.concept2.co.uk/rowing/ben_ainslie.php and a more detailed account of his training at http://www.concept2.co.uk/rowing/ben_ainslie_rya.php. In the rowing, we've got a good chance of medalling in four events. The men's coxless four will go into their final confident that, if they row their best race, it will be hard for the Canadians to stop them while, after a disappointing heat, the women's pair of Katherine Grainger and Cath Bishop stepped up a gear to earn a place in the final. In fact, the women's team are doing incredibly well so far. After the breakthrough of the Sydney Olympics, where a silver in the quad became British women's first ever rowing medal, we're well set in three events. In the double, Elise Laverick and Sarah Winckless will be hoping for a podium position, while perhaps the best chance of a top spot out of all the crews is in the women's quad. Rebecca Romero, Frances Houghton, Alison Mowbray and Debbie Flood looked incredibly good in qualifying. Frances is a former World IRC Junior 18 champion, while Debbie could be the first person to come to rowing through indoor rowing to win Olympic gold. A former judo competitor, she attended her first British IRC in 1997 after her coach realised that her training times would place her near the top of the Ranking. She cleaned up that year in the J18 Hwt race and, since then, has never looked back. The times for the finals are: Saturday Women's Pair: 7:10 a.m. Women's Double: 7:50 a.m. Men's Four: 8:30 a.m. Sunday Women's Quad: 7:30 a.m. All times are GMT. Or BST, we can never remember which one we're on. ========================================================= Tracey Brown ========================================================= Tracey Brown isn't the first indoor rowing enthusiast to complete a million metres on the Concept 2. And she isn't the first to have lost weight through training on the popular machine either. She is, however, the first to complete a million metres in only eight weeks and two days on an 'adaptive' Indoor Rower - a first in the sport. Thirty-six year old Tracey from Gorebridge in Midlothian regularly trains on the Concept 2 and competes in regional, national and international indoor rowing events with husband Wullie. It was while completing her second marathon distance on the Indoor Rower - when she knocked more than an hour off her marathon personal best time taking it to four hours 10 minutes 37.8 seconds - that she decided to attempt the million-metre challenge. Tracey suffers from Friedreich's Ataxia, a progressive crippling neurological illness affecting balance, coordination, muscles and nerves. Having been in a wheelchair since 1995 she has no use of her legs and uses a modified 'adaptive' Indoor Rower to train on. The modifications include a specially made rowing seat that is put onto the rower and she is strapped into. The seat allows her to slide while rowing, a crucial component of the rowing stroke, which she wouldn't ordinarily be able to do. Tracey's illness has also led to the deterioration of her gullet and stomach muscles. For a few years she was unable to digest food without being sick but since beginning her indoor rowing training has been able to strengthen her stomach muscles and enjoy eating without it being a tricky task. "I thought the million metres would be a good challenge to do so I set myself ten weeks in which to complete it." Tracey explains. "When I finished it in 58 days I was so relieved and felt ecstatic. I started the challenge on 10th May and finished on 6th July. The challenge itself only took me 48 days to complete but it was spread over 58 as I also have some horse riding commitments. "I'm not just stopping here either. I've completed a couple of marathons, have finished a million metres and in April 2005 I'm going to row 100k in 24 hours to raise money for a local charity." Tracey's indoor rowing record of achievement doesn't just come from training on her Concept 2 at home. She has competed at the last two AXA PPP healthcare British Indoor Rowing Championships and the last World Indoor Rowing Championship against able-bodied rowers. At the Nottingham Grand Prix this year Tracey won a gold medal in her class and has won medals at the last two Scottish Indoor Rowing Championships. She classes her biggest achievement as when her and Wullie both won Gold medals in Rome at the 2004 Italian Indoor Rowing Championship. She intends to continue her racing this season and will be competing at all the major national indoor rowing events and hopefully adding to her medal collection. Tracey is also a member of the Mad Team Indoor Rowing Club and was awarded the first ever Rowers Choice Award earlier this year. ========================================================= Pink Lady Atlantic Row ========================================================= Newsletter #106 featured an article on the Pink Lady row, an attempt by four Britons to break the record for a transatlantic row. Unfortunately, as some of you may have seen, their effort came to a dramatic conclusion on August the 8th. Caught by a dying flail from Hurricane Mark, their boat, one of the most technologically advanced craft of its type ever, was smashed in half by a monster wave. After six hours clinging to a lifeboat in a raging storm, the crew were rescued by a Danish trawler. Fortunately, none of the four were seriously injured, although John Wills suffered concussion and Jonathan Gornall, who's competed in both the British and the World Indoor Rowing Championship, was treated for hypothermia. Despite being only 600 miles from their goal, Jonathan was still able to take some positives from the experience. "We feel very lucky. We've had a fantastic experience. We've seen the sea at its most beautiful and we've seen it at its most violent. We feel we've achieved a lot even though we didn't get to break the record. The worst thing is we were so close. But that's life." The rowers were offered scrambled eggs and bacon when they were safe on board the ship. "It tasted like heaven on earth. I don't think I've ever tasted anything so great — and it's nice after all this time at sea to be able to use a real loo without three other guys watching. "It's a shame we didn't make it, but at least we can assure ourselves it wasn't anything we did wrong," he said from the Scandinavian Reefer. "It was just, you know, you take on nature and you take what she delivers and on this particular occasion she delivered a killer blow." Even though the bid to break the record has ended, you can still help the crew in their efforts to raise more than £50,000 for the British Heart Foundation by visiting http://www.bhf.org.uk/pinklady. ========================================================= Concept 2 British Rowathlon Series ========================================================= On Sunday 15th August, Castle Combe hosted the first race in the 2004 Concept 2 British Rowathlon Series. The event consisted of a 3,000m row on an Indoor Rower, a 21km cycle ride and a 3,000m run. One hundred and sixty competitors of all ages and abilities descended on the racetrack to take on the gruelling 27km course. Heavy showers created difficult race conditions but did little to dampen the enthusiasm of those taking part. The quickest row of the day came from cycling specialist Dan Staite, who covered the 3,000m in 10 minutes 2 seconds. Staite went on to win the male event almost two minutes clear of last year's unbeaten series winner Hywel Davies. Staite never looked back from the Rower, also setting the fastest bike and run splits to finish in a time of 52:19 only 10 seconds adrift of Davies' course record. Was this an off day for the Rowathlon maestro or has some competition come on to the scene, only time will tell. In the Male 50+ category, last year's winner John Booth made his mark on this year's title in a time of 1:01:11. Quick rows were the order of the day in the male 20s with the top 3 - Jesse Elzinga (10:10), Ben Kadinopoulis (10:03) and James Wewer (10:03) setting the pace for the rest of the field. Last year's female champion Michele Parsons started quick with an 11:39 3km, going on to win the women's event in 59 minutes and 24 seconds, almost five minutes clear of Leslie Parry-Jones who took silver and the lead in the F20 category. John Adams, Rowathlon Series Race Director, was delighted with the day's racing: "Multi- discipline events like Rowathlon are becoming more and more popular and it was fantastic to see so many local people taking part and giving it their best. There was a great turn out across all age groups and the standard continues to improve. The 2005 race will be even bigger and better." The next race in the Concept 2 Rowathlon series takes place in Reading on September 4th with a further two races planned in September and October. The overall winners of each of the senior age categories will go to the European Indoor Rowing Championships held in Amsterdam later this year. For full results, check out http://www.concept2.co.uk/rowathlon/ ========================================================= Upcoming Races and Events ========================================================= If you've got an event you'd like adding to the Event Calendar, the full version of which can be seen at http://www.concept2.co.uk/racing/calendar.php, then e-mail editor@concept2.co.uk. Name: World Firefighter Games Date: 28/08/04 Venue: Don Valley Stadium, Sheffield Distance: 2000m (individual), 5000m (teams) Organiser: World Firefighter Games Contact: E: chall@worldfirefightersgames.co.uk; W: www.worldfirefightersgames.co.uk Other: Runs from the 28th August to the 4th of September Name: Reading Rowathlon Date: 04/09/04 Venue: Reading Distance: 3k row, 21k cycle, 3k run Contact: W: www.concept2.co.uk/rowathlon Other: Second race in the Concept 2 British Rowathlon series Name: Enfield Indoor Rowing Gala Date: 12/09/04 Venue: Southbury Leisure Centre, Enfield Distance: 2000m Organiser: Frank Birch Contact: T: 020 8886 8499; E: Frank.Birch@MyHo.me.uk; W: www.EnfieldIndoorRowing.org.uk Name: Thruxton Rowathlon Date: 26/09/04 Venue: Thruxton Race Circuit, Andover Distance: 3k row, 21k cycle, 3.5k run Organiser: Adrian Butt Contact: T: 023 8040 7612; E: adeb@hantsfiretri.com; W: www.concept2.co.uk/rowathlon Other: Third race in the 2004 Concept 2 British Rowathlon series Name: Nottinghamshire IRC (GP 1) Date: 26/09/04 Venue: Newark RC Distance: 1,609m Organiser: Graham Price Contact: T: 07970 136054; E: gprice@keymax.co.uk; W: www.concept2.co.uk/gp/ Other: The Newark Grand Prix. First race in the 20004/05 Indoor Rowing Grand Prix series ____________________________________________________FEEDBACK You like? You dislike? You want to write something for the newsletter? Want to mock us on making a basic error? Make sure to tell us at editor@concept2.co.uk. Or, of course, you could always say something at our message board: http://www.concept2.co.uk/forum/ _____________________________________________________BACK ISSUES Have a blast from the past by going to http://www.concept2.co.uk/news/newsletter_archive.php and checking out the hidden treasures of the Indoor Rowing News. New issues are posted on the release date of the following newsletter.