============================================================ INDOOR ROWING NEWSLETTER # 25 ======================= 17-November-2000 ===================== _________________________________________________ C O N T E N T S 1. British Indoor Rowing Championship 2. Tel's Tales #1 3. 100,000 Metre Record Attempt 4. Top Tip 5. Tel's Tales #2 6. BluRed IRC Results 7. Red Nose Row 8. Irish Indoor Rowing Championship _________________________________________________________________ ========================================================= PPP healthcare British Indoor Rowing Championship ========================================================= The last couple of weeks have seen entry forms for this year's British Indoor Rowing Championship come in with greater alacrity and frequency than gifts at the feet of Solomon during his biblical judiciary pomp. The final total has ended up as 1,913 competitors, which is not only over a third up on last year, but it now means that this year's event will be the biggest indoor rowing race in the world ever. With this in mind we've thrown in an extra long BIRC section this week concentrating on the Men's Open final and having a closer look at some of the entrants to this year's championship. Men's Open Final ++++++++++++++++++ Remember where you were on the night of the 22nd of September? Chances are you were one of the seven million people who stayed up to watch the final act in the British coxless four's shot at gold. If you were, then you'll almost certainly remember the dramatic ending, when the Italians were closing in fast on the British boat and Garry Herbert's commentary shifted into turbo overdrive. On that occasion, and to the relief of the watching millions, as well as any neutrals, Britain won that day and the celebrations have barely stopped since. As Hollywood learned a long time ago, though, every big event demands a sequel, and so it is that the championship will see a rematch between two of the members of those crews. In the home corner is James Cracknell, the bow man in the coxless four, while Lorenzo Carboncini will fly the Italian flag. James will probably go into the race as the slight favourite; not only will he be performing in front of his home crowd, buts he's also got some previous in the event, having finished runner-up to Greg Searle in 1998. Tuscan born Lorenzo, however, will undoubtedly be keen to exact a measure of revenge for Sydney. The biggest threat to both men, though, is ironically another Anglo-Italian rerun of the Olympics, but this time from two crew members of the eights. Kieran West, the six man of the gold medal winning eight and now the Cambridge Boat Race president, will be there as will Mario Palmisano who finished fourth in the Italian boat. Palmisano, who was the power man in the Italian crew, is the current Italian record holder and will definitely fancy his chances. The race looks one of the closest to call for years, and whatever the outcome, spectators are guaranteed more bang for their buck than the average Hollywood sequel. Geoffrey Knight ++++++++++++++++++ Not only is sixty-six year old Geoffrey Knight hoping to win the 65-69 Men's Lightweight event, he's also aiming to break the championship record for the event, after just missing out on it last year by one second. A win this year will make it his fourth successive gold at the championships, a record as good as anyone in the sport. This will be his ninth year competing and he is more determined than ever to win. After the race, he plans to take a break next year to celebrate his Ruby Wedding Anniversary with his wife Barbara. He does, however, intend to return in 2002 and looks forward to many championships to come. Carol Barkley ++++++++++++++++++ Despite appalling damage to her home in the recent flooding, Worcestershire athlete, Carol Barkley, is determined to brave the elements and compete in this year's event. Carol, an ex ballet dancer from Upton-upon-Severn in Worcester, will be competing in the Women's 50-54 Lightweight event even though her training schedule was ruined by the flood crisis. River water inundated Carol's home reaching a depth of more than four feet - forcing the Barkley family to take refuge at a friend's Bed and Breakfast. After training at the Scottish Ballet School and with the Royal Ballet School, she performed with the Festival Ballet and the Italian Opera Company until the age of 25. She commented: "During a performance of Swan Lake my role was to lead the Corps de Ballet off the stage when I caught my foot on a rough area which led to a multiple pile up of swans and feathers. I just hope there are no similar hitches at the Championship." Alicia Danielson ++++++++++++++++++ After last newsletter's focus on John Hodgson, at 90 the oldest competitor in the championship, this time we thought we'd look at the youngest. Alicia Danielson, aged just 9, from Sowerby Bridge in West Yorkshire, will be competing in the Women's Junior 13 event. Alicia's interest in indoor rowing began in January when her father, Paul, purchased an Indoor Rower. He has been a keen indoor rower for the last two years and achieved an impressive time of 6:54.1 at the North of England championship. Alicia's sisters Eve, aged 11, and Rebecca, aged 14, also took part in the North of England competition and will be joining Alicia and their father at Reading. Paul takes up the story: "Alicia felt left out earlier in the year when her sisters and I took part in the North of England competition, so it will be great for all of us to be supporting each other throughout the day at the British Championship." Nigel Glover ++++++++++++++++++ Nigel Glover, a police inspector from Slough, will be competing in the Men's 40-44 Heavyweight event for the fourth consecutive year and is aiming to secure his fourth gold medal in a personal best time. After purchasing an Indoor Rower in 1997 Nigel won his first national title at that year's Championship and has not looked back since. Nigel modestly commented: "I think it just helps being big as I am 6 foot 6 inches tall and weigh 18 stone. The only water-based experiences I have encountered range from using pedal boats on holiday and cross Channel ferries!" Chris and Sue Arnold ++++++++++++++++++ A mother and son team participating this year will demonstrate an incredible will to overcome illness including deteriorating bone and muscle conditions and paralysis. Chris Arnold, from Penzance in Cornwall, will be competing in the Men's Open Heavyweight category, while his mother, Sue, will be entering the Women's 60-69 Heavyweight event. In late 1992 Chris was diagnosed with Gullian-Barrie Syndrome, a condition that affected his ability to walk and move around. The condition developed from a viral infection and lasted for about a year. His attitude to life has changed significantly since experiencing paralysis. He explained: "I am always trying to prove myself and am extremely competitive in anything I enter. I may never have been able to take part in fitness events and I think that is why I now try and strive to be the best." "With indoor rowing you are able to see how far you can push yourself and it gives you the opportunity to continuously improve your personal best." Chris has been training on the Indoor Rower for three years and at the Cornwall Indoor Rowing Championship in March this year he finished third in the Men's Open category. He has also encouraged his mum to take part in this year's Championship. She suffers from Osteo Arthritis and Fibromylgia Syndrome, which affects the blood circulation to the muscles causing chronic fatigue. She also suffers from high blood pressure and commented that: "The Championship has given me a goal to work towards and my blood pressure has improved slightly. After the Championship I am looking forward to more incentives for my exercise programme, so that I can continue to make progress." BIRC Clothing ++++++++++++++++++ One of the biggest dilemmas facing competitors at the championship is what to wear: do you go for the figure-hugging lycra, the baggy tracksuit or just dig out your yellowing gym kit? Well there's now one less thing to worry about as this year's range of championship clothing has recently stepped off the catwalks. The T-shirt is white on dark grey, 100% cotton, and costs a tenner, while the sweatshirt is grey on black and will set you back twenty bones. They'll both be available to buy on the day or, alternatively, you can purchase them on-line through the C2 Shop (http://www.concept2.co.uk/v4/merchandise.php3) or give us a ring on 0115 945 5522. ========================================================= Tel's Tales #1 ========================================================= Nick Lawson: "What sort of exercise regime do you recommend for a 39 year old indoor rower who is not overweight and for a variety of reasons can only usually exercise once a week? My main aim is to avoid physical atrophy and a heart attack in my 40s. "Having rowed competitively at university, I am quite happy working hard on my Concept 2 but am aware that pushing it too much might be damaging. I have a heart rate monitor and try to keep my heart rate down but seem to be able to row quite long pieces (30 minutes) at a relatively high heart rate (170+) which is probably pushing me into my anaerobic zone." Terry O'Neill: Your preoccupation with heart problems worries me; do you have a heart condition or is there a family history of heart disease? If you have a sound heart you cannot have a heart attack because of exercise but you may have a heart attack during exercise as a result of a dicky ticker. With a dicky ticker you would stand the same chance of a heart attack doing exercise as having a shag, and I know which way I would rather go. There are too many other things going on in the body that would shut down long before a healthy heart gave out. The heart responds to demands placed upon it for blood and oxygen to supply working muscles. In an unfit person the inefficiency of the body would mean that it is unlikely to be able to stress the heart. There is a difference between being unfit and being unhealthy. Being unfit means the inability to overcome a given task and this is not a medical condition. Being unhealthy is a medical condition and this may make you unable to carry out certain activities. Now as for the idea of a one day a week training programme, very difficult. One of the laws that applies to training is reversibility. What this means is that any improvement that you acquire as a result of training leaves you when you stop training. Therefore day one you train, day two you recover, day three you are ready to train again having adapted to the training load but, if you don't train, you start to lose it on days four, five and six. You need to come up with some time on two more days, even if it is only a total of 1 hour. ========================================================= LA Fitness Row For Children In Need ========================================================= This year's Sydney Olympics has inspired members of a leading health and fitness club to try and row their way to a new world record. Spurred on by Olympic bronze medal winner Kelly Holmes, members from LA Fitness in Tunbridge Wells will attempt to break the world record for the mixed team 100,000 metres and raise £3,000 for Children In Need. The mixed team of ten, supported by Tunbridge Wells based medical insurer PPP healthcare, will compete for the title on Friday 17th November 2000, (the day of Children In Need) at 12 p.m. in the Royal Victoria Place Shopping Mall. The team who will take turns to row in bursts of 500 metres, have competed in a number of mini 2,000 metre row challenges at the club based in Market Square as part of their training and are sounding pretty confident that they can beat the current World Record. "The current world record for 100,000 metres is held by Wolfson College, Oxford and was achieved in 5 hours and 32 minutes, but with the amount of training we've put in, and with Kelly Holmes cheering us on, we really believe we have a realistic chance of breaking this record as long as we can sustain the targets we have set ourselves". Mark Adams, Managing Director of PPP healthcare, looks forward to the day's events. "We are delighted to be supporting the team and hope local residents and passing shoppers will turn up on the day to give their vocal support and give generously for the Children In Need Appeal". For more information on the 100,000 metre team challenge check out http://www.concept2.co.uk/v4/team_chall.htm ========================================================= Top Tip ========================================================= Laurel and Hardy, poppadoms and mango chutney, indoor rowing and sore bums: some things just seem made for each other. The question of suffering from a painful posterior when rowing for long periods is a trusty favorite of our mailbags, so we decided to try and settle it once and for all. To get to the, ahem, bottom of this, we went to the top and none other than Dick Dreissigacker, who along with his brother Pete started Concept 2 and developed the Indoor Rower. Dick's solution is simply this: bubble wrap, yup just your common or garden variety, although he also recommends the stuff with the small bubbles not the large ones. Simple but apparently effective. Remember, if you've got a Top Tip, make sure you send it into webmaster@vermonthouse.co.uk. ========================================================= Tel's Tales #2 ========================================================= Lisa Perez: I agree with Neil Rhodes, quoted in the last newsletter. The toughest thing about a session on the rowing machine is the boredom. I'd be very interested to hear what other people do to keep "2 minutes from seeming like 2 hours". Terry O'Neill: I don't agree with Neil, in fact I think the issue of boredom is a symptom of a more serious problem around today. At this point I will avoid the temptation to go off on one of my hobbyhorses and just say this. When you get onto the rower to exercise there are the most fantastic array of activities going on inside your body. So if you are bored maybe you are looking in the wrong direction. It is true that on the machine you are not running through beautiful countryside so perhaps you should focus on your inside, which is just as spectacular. Just before you start an exercise routine, there is often a feeling of weakness and loss of energy. This is because in preparation the body has released chemicals to allow the exercise to be carried out, but until you actually start this chemical imbalance is uncomfortable. Once you start, this feeling recedes and you become aware of your heart rate moving up. This is followed shortly by changes in the breathing pattern as you clear the carbon dioxide from the body. Muscles start to send messages that they are struggling against lactate accumulation and tell your brain it's time to stop. Your will power overrides this and you are involved in this mental battle, trying desperately to manage the fine balance between what is left to do and your energy reserves. Boring? I don't think so. ========================================================= BluRed Indoor Rowing Championship ========================================================= Sunday 5th November saw the 4th BluRed Indoor Rowing Championship take place at Edgehill College, Bideford, North Devon. The event has become firmly established in the indoor rowing calendar, not only as a great race in it's own right, but also as a good warm-up for the British Championship, and 79 people pitched up to compete. The fastest time for the men was by Steve Hammonds of Bedford RC in the 30-39 Heavyweight with 6:23.7, although he only just took this honour ahead of the 40-49 Heavyweight winner Marcus Harvey of Dimensions who did a very creditable 6:24.6. In the women's event, Andrea Hoskins of the University of Staffordshire did 7:30.1 to win the 20-29 Heavyweight, while also of note was Lynn Loughton who did 7:31.5 in the Women's 40-49 Heavyweight, a fact which bodes well for her attempt to better her silver at last year's British championship. For the full results, check out http://www.concept2.co.uk/v4/local.htm ========================================================= Red Nose Row ========================================================= With four months to go until next year's Red Nose Day, anybody who hasn't yet got around to starting the Million Metre Challenge needs to get their skates on. With, ooh, about 17 weeks to go until the deadline for completing the distance if you started now you'd have to do (roughly) 58,823.529 metres a week, or 8,403 metres a day, approximately 40 minutes. Not only would you be raising money for Comic Relief but you'd be getting as fit as the proverbial fiddle at the same time. For more information, visit http://www.concept2.co.uk/rnr/index.html ========================================================= Irish Indoor Rowing Championship ========================================================= The IIRC takes place this Saturday at the Sportslink Leisure Centre, Furry Park, Santry, Dublin 9. With over 200 confirmed entries, it promises to be a cracking day out, so if you're in the area, make sure you pop along to support the first in a hopefully long series of championships. Full results will be going up on our web site early next week. ____________________________________________F E E D B A C K Like what you read? Dislike what you read? 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