============================================================ INDOOR ROWING NEWSLETTER #39 ========================= 25-June-2001 ======================== _________________________________________________ C O N T E N T S 1. Training Camp 2. Regional Races 3. Imperial Cancer Research Fund 4. Red Nose Row 5. Tel's Tales #1 6. Distance Competition 7. Neil Lyndon 8. Square Mile Challenge 9. Forthcoming Events 10. Tel's Tales #2 11. Henley Royal Regatta 12. Gianluca Farina 13. Ranking Spotlight: Fiona Haworth 14. Mediawatch ________________________________________________________________ ========================================================= Training Camp ========================================================= Information on whether there'd be any follow-ups to last year's training camp has been a bit thin on the ground in recent months, unfortunately, but here's Terry O'Neill to set the matter straight... "We are planning to run another training camp in Banyoles Spain and I will explain the details but first a little preamble. "Last year, we ran an indoor rowing training camp taking 24 intrepid indoor rowing enthusiasts on a week long camp to Banyoles in Northern Spain. Since then, we have been driven mad by people wanting to go onto another one, despite the fact that it was ARD and wimps and whingers were banned. The camp involved training on the rower, cycling and running along with late night drinking and this year will be the same, plus we will have instruction on training principles and practice, nutrition, rowing technique and race preparation. "In addition we will have a top Italian crew class instructor to run classes, which include some really novel ideas. And finally, off road biking with PROPER routes, maps and distances. "Because of the number of people that have shown interest, we plan to run two one week courses back to back from the 6th-20th October which will get you into top shape for BIRC. "This still means we will only be able to take a total of around forty people so the first ones to let me know they are up for it will be the ones to go, so get those fingers moving and book your place. "For more details get in touch straightaway on either 0115 945 5522 or webmaster@concept.co.uk, no time to lose." ========================================================= Regional Races ========================================================= West of England ------------------------ 43 people competed at the first ever West Of England IRC at West Somerset Sports and Leisure Centre in Minehead on the 9th of June. A fantastically organised day, the event was deemed a great success by the organisers, who are already looking to increase the entrants and prizes for next year's event, to be held on Saturday 8th June 2002. The event wasn't free from accusations of skulduggery, however, as organiser Neil Hutchinson explained... "Weighing in caused rumours of bribery, with one young man stripping down to his track suit trousers to impress the female member of staff and running round the outside of the centre for 30 minutes with a final weight loss of 2 pounds. This caused such a stir that next year we may need to draw straws to see which female staff member gets that position. "The highlight of the day was the smashing of the current British record for the 40-49 Lwt category by Graham Price of Newark RC. He actually held the old record at 6:26.7 and beat this with a new time of 6:25.5. The event times were staggering with Chris Roe completing the 2000m in a fantastic 6:16.6 in the Hwt 19-29 category and Richard Wilder only 5 seconds off this pace in the Lwt 19-29 category. "Of course much attention was aimed at the 70-99 age category with only one male entry. 82 year old William Harvey completed the 2000m in 9:05.0 which would have taken the British title had he been a lightweight. Maybe next year! "As well as 2,000 metres, 18 people competed in a 500 metre sprint event. The top 7 male entries all made it in under 1.30 with Jon Goodall winning in 1.21.7; in the women's event Anna Bailey sailed home in 1.39.9 showing the younger competitors that in this high impact sprint, age is immaterial." Full results and photographs can be found at http://www.concept2.co.uk/v4/local.htm South West of Scotland IRC ----------------------------------- Also making its debut this month was the South West of Scotland IRC. Set in Stranraer (hence its unofficial nickname the Stranra'erg), the tireless efforts of organiser David Hislop ensured a total of 51 people took part. The winners of each category were: M 20-29 - Sam Smernicki - 7:04.9 M 30-39 - Andy Sangster - 6:17.5 M 40-49 - Marcus Harvey - 6:17.8 M 50-59 - Basil Elliot - 6:37.4 M 60-69 - Richard Taylor - 8:18.5 M 70-79 - Denis Melody - 8:31.2 M 30-39 Lwt - David Cutting - 6:26.5 M 40-49 Lwt - David Hislop - 6:43.0 M 50-59 Lwt - George Meredith - 6:55.4 M 60-69 Lwt - Phil Stubley - 7:03.3 W 30-39 - Helen Morison - 7:50.3 W 50-59 - Anna Bailey - 07:20.4 Full results will be posted ay http://www.concept2.co.uk/v4/local.htm as soon as possible. ========================================================= Imperial Cancer Research 100,000 metre Challenge ========================================================= The success of last year's 100,000 metre competition The Big One, combined with the high profile that the event got from the Head 2 Head Challenge for Comic Relief (http://www.concept2.co.uk/rnr/rnr_head2head_index.htm) means that now seems as good a time as any to run another team event. Into that breach has stepped the Imperial Cancer Research Challenge, with teams wanted to complete 100,000 metres on Sunday 7th October 2001 at the Havant Leisure Centre, Hampshire. Although it's planned as a non-competitive event, there will be a prize for the fastest team, and all funds raised will go directly to researching the causes, prevention and treatment of cancer. The cost of entry is 20 pound per team or 10 pounds if you supply your own Indoor Rower. To register your team, or for further information, please call Robert Piggott on 02392 476026. ========================================================= Red Nose Row ========================================================= Yay. If you cast your minds back a couple of months, the nation was gripped by Red Nose Row fever, a non-fatal illness of which the main symptom was the desire to raise lots of money for Comic Relief. Anyway, we promised an Indoor Rower each to the three individuals and the three institutions/clubs who raised the most money for the cause. Those nice people at the Comic Relief offices have now got back to us, and we can reveal the winners - with a big round of applause going to all the following Individuals: AJ Quinn, London Gareth Callan, Leamington Spa Charles Porter, Northampton Clubs: Temple Cowley Pools, Oxford Rheindahlan Area Support Unit BNP Paribas Health Club, London ========================================================= Tel's Tales #1 ========================================================= For those of you coming afresh to the Indoor Rowing News, Tel's Tales is the column written by three times Olympic rowing coach Terry O'Neill in which he answers questions you might have about any aspect of indoor rowing and/or training. Send your queries to tels-tales@concept2.co.uk. Aaron Jackson: This will probably rank amongst the most stupid questions that you've ever been asked but: I know that my legs are more powerful than my arms and form an important component of the drive, but I don't think that I'm getting all of the power and efficiency from my leg drive that I should. I can't seem to get any push. Should I be pushing down into the plate (as this seems to get more force into the stroke) or back towards the seat (which seems to keep me driving from my toes until my legs are extended and the heels come back to the plate). Surely, if I keep my heels flat, I can bring in quads and hams more than calves and utilise the larger muscle group. At the moment, I seem to be doing most of the work with my arms instead of transferring the acceleration from my legs via my back to the arms. Is there anything I can look for to help me maximise this? Terry O'Neill: I don't think the question is stupid. There are a couple of exercises you can try. As you come forward, think about the weight shifting on the foot towards the toes and also the compression of the legs like squeezing down a car suspension coil spring. When you come up onto your toes release the spring. This is to make sure you take the beginning of the stroke with the legs. The other exercise is, from the beginning of the stroke keep the arms straight and just push off of the footplate, moving back a couple of inches, but making sure that the handle moves the same distance as the seat. Gradually increase the leg drive keeping the arms straight all the time and using them as a connection to the handle only, do not pull the handle into the body. ========================================================= Distance Competition ========================================================= Yeovil man Neil Rhodes, who appeared in this organ recently after his successful attempt to row a million metres in eight and a half days, is thinking of organising a race for those of you into longer distances than the bog-standard 2,000 metres. Race distances would be one, or more, of 5,000 metres, 10,000 metres or the marathon. For more information and to register your interest, contact Neil on neil.rhodes@classicfm.net or join in on the conversation on the Indoor Rowing Message Board (http://www.concept2.co.uk/messageboard.htm) - you can find the relevant thread in the News section. ========================================================= Neil Lyndon ========================================================= According to comparative mythologist Joseph Campbell, there are a handful of basic stories and myths that are repeated throughout all cultures. Having never actually bothered to read him, we're not too sure what these stories are, but we'd have a good stab that one of them reads something along the lines of "middle aged man wakes up one day to realise he's more than the odd pound over his fighting weight and running for the bus nearly necessitates an oxygen tent". A recent recruit to these ranks is journalist Neil Lyndon. His account of his personal battle, called Going Down Fighting, can be found every fortnight in the Financial Times. You can also find his first two columns on their web site at http://globalarchive.ft.com/globalarchive/articles.html?id=010526000717 http://globalarchive.ft.com/globalarchive/articles.html?id=010609000887 ========================================================= Square Mile Challenge ========================================================= Hundreds of spectators saw the conclusion of the Square Mile Challenge at the Galleria overlooking the Thames on Tuesday, June the 19th. 28 men's teams and 12 women's teams - each of three people - qualified for the finals of the event which has been running at 12 Fitness Exchange health clubs across London for the past few months, all ready to battle it out over a 3,000 metre relay race. The competitors also had the chance to learn from the very best, with Olympic gold medallist James Cracknell hot-footing it straight from World Championship Regatta success in Seville to join in with the Celebrity Challenge in aid of the SPARKS charity (Sport Aiding medical Research for KidS). Cracknell was joined by Sydney silver medal-winning rower Miriam Batten, former England rugby great and indoor rowing world record holder Andy Ripley, and Olympic skier Martin Bell. The four captained celebrity teams with their team-mates having won the chance to row through an Internet competition - and it was Andy Ripley's and Martin Bell's teams that surprised Cracknell by narrowly winning the charity showpiece event. The main events were won by the team of Farnivall Fatboys - Mark Stemper, Pete Wright and Tom Bremlmann - whose time of 8:56.0 was the only sub-9 minute row of the evening. The Biobas Beauties team of Julia Blanchard, Tanya McEvitt and Megan Wilson won the women's event in 11:13.4. More than 13,000 pounds was raised for SPARKS during the evening, and PPP healthcare marketing manager Peter Roach was delighted with the response to the event: "To stage an event which has more than 100 participants in a shopping Galleria in the heart of London on a week-day evening may sound a little off the wall, but the Challenge certainly caused a real stir in the City and drew a large crowd to what was a very exciting event. To raise this kind of money for SPARKS is fantastic, and to have persuaded hundreds of people to come out of their offices and hit the gyms in an attempt to qualify for these finals is excellent, as our Let's Pull Together For A Healthier Nation campaign goes from strength to strength." Full results for the event will be up on http://www.concept2.co.uk/v4/local.htm shortly. ========================================================= Forthcoming Events ========================================================= Name: Tropicana UK Cross-Training Challenge Date: 28th July Venue: LA Fitness, Sutton Coldfield Distance: Multi-discipline event. Other: See http://www.crosstraining.org.uk/course.htm#tropicana for details of course. Closing date for entry is 28th June. Contact: LA Fitness, 366 Gravelly Lance, Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham B23 5SB. Tel: 0121 377 8081. ========================================================= Tel's Tales #2 ========================================================= Christopher Coulson: I'd be interested to hear whether a comparative performance formula I've devised makes real sense or whether I'm only imagining that it's a useful guide. I modestly call it the Coulson Performance Factor (CPF) and I devised it because I wanted to incorporate the training variables of time, distance and heart rate in a single indicator of comparative fitness. The CPF is supposed to answer the question: is it a sign of greater fitness (a) to do 6174 metres in 30 minutes at an average heart rate of 137.3, or (b) to do 14188 metres in 65 minutes at an average heart rate of 148.8? I believe the answer can be calculated using the CPF formula: 500m split time (in seconds)/metres per heartbeat = CPF A lower CPF means greater fitness. In the test case, if the CPF is meaningful, session (b) is indicative of greater fitness because its CPF is 93.66 as opposed to (a)'s 97.26. Or am I fooling myself? What do you think? Terry O'Neill: Your idea is interesting and I will discuss it with some of my mates at Loughborough Human Performance dept. The first thing that strikes me is that when you compare different distances, the balance between the aerobic and anaerobic contribution to the overall effort changes. Also it is different between individuals, and so someone who has a high anaerobic contribution would appear to be less fit when doing the longer distances whereas it is not a question of fitness but suitability. For example; if you asked Linford Christie to run the 5,000 metres, he would either not be able to complete it or it would take him a long time. You could not conclude that he was not fit only that he was not fit for the task he was set. When comparing the 30 and 60 minute pieces it is not so bad, but when you start to get down to 2,000 metre times then it could be different. With all that said, I think it is a pretty safe way to monitor your own progress and as time goes on you will build up data and maybe refine it. ========================================================= Henley Royal Regatta ========================================================= The world's most famous rowing race is teaming up once again with the world's favourite rowing machine (umm, a bit cheesy that). Henley Royal Regatta, which this year runs from Wednesday the 4th to Sunday the 8th of July, will have an indoor rowing training area with twenty machines. One of the main draws of the competition will be a chance to see the new coxless pair of James Cracknell and Matthew Pinsent. Recently victorious at the Seville World Cup regatta, the twosome have already established themselves as strong Olympic favourites even at this early stage. If you're competing at Henley, it's also worth noting that the Oarsport crew will be on hand during the course of the day to offer an oar repair service to all and sundry. For more information, visit the official Henley web site at http://www.hrr.co.uk ========================================================= Gianluca Farina ========================================================= On June 16, during the Festival del Fitness (Italy's biggest fitness trade show) Olympic champion Gianluca Farina attempted to crack the world record for the individual 100,000 metres, currently held by Sussex's Glen Goodman in 6:22:56. Despite the blistering heat, high humidity and deafening noise from wild group rowing lessons, Gianluca, who won gold in the quad in Seoul '88, succeeded in finishing the distance in a very respectable time which though it didn't break the world record, is in any case a new Italian record of 6:52:4, raising a lot of money for UNICEF in the process as well. A report and pictures can be found on the Concept 2 Italy web site: http://www.concept2.it, though the report reads much better if you're fluent in Italian. ========================================================= Ranking Spotlight: Fiona Haworth ========================================================= This year's Concept Ranking is out near the end of July. In order to mark its somewhat prolonged gestation, we're running the rule over some of the 10,000 people who go to make up this year's edition. This fortnight it's the turn of Lancashire lass Fiona Haworth. No stranger to a well-placed nose-clip, Fiona's been a member of the British synchronised swimming team since 1995, and North West of England champion for the last eight years. She's hoping to top her international career off by competing in the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester. As a synchronised swimmer Fiona needs to have incredible cardio vascular fitness to perform and practice her five minute long routines. Her daily training programme incorporates three hour sessions in the water and three hours on land and she started using the Indoor Rower two years ago as part of her gym work. "Synchronised swimming is an endurance sport and the Indoor Rower helps to improve my general fitness as well as working similar muscles to those I use in synchronised swimming, which can only benefit my performance in the sport." Last year saw Fiona make her debut at the British Indoor Rowing Championship after only three weeks of training. She finished 14th in the Women's Open Lightweight event with a time of 8:06.0 and is hoping to go under seven minutes forty at this year's event. Fiona's also part of the increasing trend of people who try their hand at rowing on the water after using the Indoor Rower. Since joining Sefton Rowing Club, she's competed in the novice events in the Head of the River Race in Northwich in April and in her first regatta at the end of May in Liverpool, at which she finished second. Sefton have also loaned her an Indoor Rower so that she can continue her training at home. If Fiona's accomplishments in synchronised swimming are anything to go by, it could be that the world of indoor rowing needs to look out... ========================================================= Media Watch ========================================================= Surveillance: one Indoor Rower on Denise Van Outen's lawn in BBC drama Murder In Mind (submitted by Darren Rhodes) Surveillance: several Indoor Rowers on the Portuguese version of Big Brother as competitors had to try and 'row' across the English channel. Also, congratulations to Luke Milligan, who as well as being an indoor rowing enthusiast, became the only Briton to make it to Wimbledon through the qualifying rounds, earning himself a plum tie with number 8 seed Juan Carlos to boot. _______________________________________________________FEEDBACK Like what you read? Dislike what you read? Ideas for future newsletters? 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