============================================================ INDOOR ROWING NEWSLETTER #47 ======================= 19-October-2001 ======================= _________________________________________________ C O N T E N T S 1. PPP healthcare British Indoor Rowing Championship 2. Regional Results 3. Forthcoming Events 4. Tel's Tales 5. Spot The Erg 6. Indoor Rowing Grand Prix Series 7. Ward Evans Atlantic Row Challenge 8. Neil Rhodes 9. Training Camp 10. Marathon Day **************************** Feedback Back Issues Subscription Information ________________________________________________________________ ========================================================= PPP healthcare British Indoor Rowing Championship ========================================================= National Indoor Arena, Birmingham, 18th November. Entry -------------------------------------------------- The numbers that rule our world: Closing date for entries: 26/10/01 Current number of entries: 1,700 Maximum number of entries: 3,000 Percentage of entries that generally come in the last week: 50% Chance of disappointment if a dawdler: 95% Maximum number of seconds after finishing this newsletter before visiting http://www.concept2.co.uk/birc/entryform.php if not already done so: 7 Clothing -------------------------------------------------- If it wasn't for that serpent and his pesky wiles way back when, there'd be no need for any top quality merchandise, such as our championship T-Shirts and Sweatshirts. However, he did, and a fig leaf no longer does the biz. You can buy both the aforementioned items for ten and twenty nicker respectively by visiting http://www.concept2.co.uk/v4/merchandise_clothing.php3. Also for sale there is the Harry Mahon Cancer Research Trust T-shirt, the official charity of this year's championship. The Harry Mahon T-Shirt costs 12 pounds and all profits go to the charity. GBR Challenge -------------------------------------------------- The end of October sees a special satellite event of the British Indoor Rowing Championship take place in aid of the Harry Mahon Cancer Research Trust. 30 members of the British America's Cup sailing team will be racing against each other for a special gold, silver and bronze BIRC medal, and as the team includes Olympic gold medallist Greg Searle and Cambridge Blue Ian Weighell, who finished fourth at last year's BIRC, the pace is sure to be furious. The race came about after Greg was looking to do something for Harry's Fund, in honour of the man who coached him for three years in the Single Scull event. Initially he had hoped to race Rob Waddell, the fastest man ever on the Indoor Rower and another rower who has converted to sailing having joined Team New Zealand. Scheduling problems meant this couldn't work out, so an alternative idea of having the GBR team stage a satellite race took shape instead, much to the delight of the others we suspect... The race will be on October 31st at the YMCA in Auckland, New Zealand, and a TV crew will be on hand to film their efforts. We'll tell you the results here afterwards and, hopefully, footage of the race will be shown on the big screen at the championship proper. For more information about Greg Searle and the America's Cup, visit http://www.concept2.co.uk/birc/news.php?news=americas_cup.inc Championship Spotlight: Matt Langridge -------------------------------------------------- Part of what makes the British Championship great is that you get to see the likes of James Cracknell (MBE) and Matthew Pinsent (CBE) close up, sweating and gurning like baking pigs. What the championship also offers to the cognoscenti (Latin for one who smells of cogs) is the chance to spot the stars of the future. Matt Langridge looks to be one of those for whom future stardom beckons. An easy winner last year of the J18 Hwt category in 6:09.3, Matt's had an excellent on-water season which culminated in him becoming the first Briton ever to win the Single Sculls at the World Junior Championship in Zagreb. Having progressed in leaps and bounds throughout the year, he looks to be a clear favourite to defend his crown at the champs. If you can find Shifty Bob the Bookie at the NIA, we reckon he's got an outside chance of becoming the first British junior ever to go under six minutes. ========================================================= Regional Results ========================================================= The full results for last month's Nuneaton and Bedworth IRC can now be found on-line at http://www.concept2.co.uk/v4/local.htm Also worthy of mention is the PPP healthcare sponsored competition at the Dragon Boat Festival at Bewl Water in Kent last month. There, a one minute competition raised over 240 pounds for charity. ========================================================= Forthcoming Events ========================================================= Name: Nottinghamshire IRC Date: 27th October Venue: Newark RC Distance, 500 metres, 2,000 metres, one minute event for Under 12s Other: Closing date for entry: 21st October. Entry fee: 5 pounds Contact: Graham Price, Tel: 07970 136054, E-mail: gprice@keymax.co.uk Name: BluRed IRC Date: 4th November Venue: Edgehill College, Bideford Distance: 2,000 metres Other: Commemorative T-Shirt to each entrant. Entry fee: 5 pounds Contact: Nigel Cann, Tel: (w)01237 428667, (h)01237 473805, E-mail: ncann@tycoelectronics.com Name: Amstel Ergohead Date: 20/01/2002 Venue: Amsterdam Distance: 6,000 metres Other: For more information, check out http://www.amstelroei.nl/ergohead (English test available) Contact: Fred Hollander on allaround@planet.nl ========================================================= Tel's Tales ========================================================= We got played for a fool last week when we lent a friend of ours 10 grand for plastic surgery; now we haven't got a clue what he looks like. All this could have been avoided if we'd have e-mailed three-times Olympic rowing coach Terry O'Neill at tels-tales@concept2.co.uk. Tel knows everything you see. Steve Spungen: Can I get an idea of my anaerobic threshold (AT) without sophisticated measurement instrumentation? Terry O'Neill: Accurately no, but you can get an approximation. If you follow the step test protocol in the training guide, starting off at a gentle pace, pay attention to your breathing pattern. As you increase the intensity you will experience an urge to gulp down more air and your breathing pattern will alter. Note your heart rate at this point and it will approximate to your AT. -------------------------------------------------- Barry Cottrell: In your Newsletter you ask for suggestions. The question I often wonder about is how does one's physical size affect performance on the erg? A large person like Matthew Pinsent at around 6'6" is expected to be quicker than a relatively small person like me at 5'10". If we were relatively as fit and strong as each other for our size, what would our respective difference in 2,000 metre times be? Terry O'Neill: If you are looking at straight time difference over 2,000 metres then the difference would be around 20 seconds. However, the way to compare physical condition across people of different sizes is to compare oxygen uptake per kilogram of body weight. Matthew Pinsent would still come out pretty high as he has a VO2 of 8 litres and weighs (about) 100 kilograms, giving him a figure of 80ml/kg. Top lightweight rowers may have a VO2 of 6 litres and weigh 75 kilograms, which is 78ml/kg. Measuring in this way is a far more accurate indication of how efficient various athletes are and is carried out on all our international rowers. ========================================================= Spot The Erg ========================================================= Regular reader Sonia Wiln writes: "While scrutinising the latest issue of OK magazine at the hairdressers, I noticed celebrity about town Lisa Rogers (of sports programme Under The Moon and boyfriend of Ralf Little, Anthony in 'The Royle Family', fame) posing for a large photo on an Indoor Rower." We'll have to take Sonia's word for it, as once again our copy of OK! remained mysteriously unbrought. If you've spotted an Indoor Rower, preferably somewhere interesting with some sort of celebrity, then drop us a line at webmaster@concept2.co.uk. Even if you just spot a celebrity down the pub, drop us a line anyway, as we like those sort of stories and it helps us plan our week's stalking. ========================================================= Indoor Rowing Grand Prix Series ========================================================= The Indoor Rowing Grand Prix Series 2001/2 starts with the Irish IRC in Dublin on December 12th. There are four races in the first season, and you can enter as many or as few of them as you want. For more information about the series, as well as entry forms for each race, check out the web site at http://www.concept2.co.uk/gp Each race has had to be capped, so make sure you get entry forms in soon: Irish IRC, Dublin, December 12th, Entry Cap: 600 East Midlands IRC, Nottingham, January 13th, Entry Cap: 1,000 North of England IRC, Manchester, February 2nd, Entry Cap: 1,500 Welsh IRC, Cardiff, March 2nd, Entry Cap: 1,000 ========================================================= Ward Evans Atlantic Row Challenge ========================================================= The Ward Evans Atlantic Row Challenge sees 36 crews race from Tenerife to Barbados. Now about a fortnight into the race, you can follow the progress live on http://www.wearc.com. Special congratulations go to the Telecom Challenge 25 team of Stephanie Brown and Jude Ellis, who as well as being one of the few all-female crews in the race, are currently lying in third position overall. Stephanie is the sister of Rog Brown, the bloke whose cartoons can regularly be founding gracing the backs of Concept Rankings and the fronts of Concept Christmas cards. Here's hoping the curse of the Indoor Rowing News doesn't see them eaten by a giant squid tomorrow. ========================================================= Neil Rhodes ========================================================= Last April, Nigel Gower did a million metres in seven days, four hours, 44 minutes and 22 seconds. Neil Rhodes, who'd already done a couple of one million metre rows in just over a week was determined to beat his time. He set off on Monday, October 1st. This is his diary: "On day one I started later than anticipated, due to one of the official verifiers being late, so I knew I was going to be behind target on the first day. Start time was 11:18am. I did think about 'catching up' that day, but thought it would be better to play safe and grab some sleep, as this was only the first day. Found it difficult to eat a lot that night. 101,278 metres. "Tuesday - 7am start rowing, feeling OK so pushed on relentless at Asda. All was fine until around 5pm when I 'hit the wall', something that I had never done before. It was quite interesting, I could move up and down the slide, but had no energy, pace dropped to 2:24, with the last session 2:37. Incredible aches in gluteals and lower back. I stopped at 20:36, shattered and only having covered 147,973 metres that day. I was so tired, it took me three attempts to lift the erg into the back of my car! Again, I had difficulty eating that night. I felt hungry, but eating made me feel sick. I weighed myself. I had lost five kilograms. "Wednesday - 7am start again - Safeway's today - glutes and back aching after the first 40 minutes. Changed my eating arrangements, decided to drop the pace to try and avoid hitting the wall. Better to take a little longer and survive, was my reasoning. Apart from the aches, a good day. 160,980 metres "Thursday - 7am start at Sainsbury's. Much the same as yesterday until about 5pm, when the aching back was really becoming a problem. Dropped the pace again and broke my sessions down into smaller chunks of time. Stopped at 21:07, distance covered 151,353 metres "Friday - 7am, another day, another supermarket. Ask me where the deals are, I'm an expert now. An ordinary day, just plodding through the metres, trying to hold a steady pace and forget the aches. 156,432m "Saturday - 7am start at The Brighton Health & Racquets Club. I was way behind target to reach my goal of six days, so drastic action was required. I knew I couldn't raise the pace, so there was only one other option...STAY ON THE ERG. I took a three minute break every hour, until the club closed, I then moved venue, a quick sandwich and started rowing again. Finish time was 11:35:55 on the Sunday morning. I rowed 281,984 metres in 28.5 hours, to catch up. At the end of the day, my total time was six days 17 minutes 55 seconds. I missed my target of six days, but I can live with that, for the moment. "Each time I do this I learn something, it's a monster but it can be tamed. The travelling, lifting, and setting up on my own wasted valuable time and energy, but it was all in a good cause and having done it again, I know I can go faster. "I would really like to thank all the verifiers, Godfrey Rowing, High Five and UltraFIT, for all their support and great products." Just in case you read that and thought, pah, dead easy, I could do that, (well, you might. Unlikely I know), Neil has got one final word of warning: "Please don't make this sound too easy, it was hard and it would be wrong to send the wrong message to people. It's a huge challenge which needs a huge amount of preparation and could be very damaging for those who do not think about the enormity of such a challenge." ========================================================= Training Camp ========================================================= Terry O'Neill found time off from sipping the vino tinto and running this year's Indoor Rowing Training Camp to pen the following report: "Wednesday is a rest day and the rowers that are here preparing for the British Indoor Rowing Championship have earned it. Sunday was the first training day which started with a 5,000 metre row before breakfast at 7.30am. It was still dark when they started, but the sun had come up before the finish to herald the beginning of a beautiful day. "After breakfast the group set out on a 10 kilometre cross-country run to an activity centre where they collected their mountain bikes. The route back to the hotel took them through some beautiful country, a ride of around 35 kilometres and this will be the triathlon competition on Saturday morning. After lunch there was a couple of hours rest before the evening session when the group were back on the rowing machines practising racing starts. "Monday morning 7.30 back on the machines for 5,000 metres at what I would call a 'challenging pace' before setting off on the first climb on the mountain bikes. From the Hotel to the top of Rocacorba is only about 15 kilometres but in that distance you climb over 800m. The sun was up for another fantastic day so the group were pretty puffed when they reached the summit. The view from the top is spectacular and helped detract the conversation away from how hard it was to get there. "A short rest followed lunch then it was back on the rowing machines for some pace training. This involves setting the monitor to 5,000 metres then, after the first 1,000 metres you drop your split time by five seconds, then four seconds between 2,000 and 3,000 metres and so on. If you don't pace it correctly you blow your doors off and some experienced this and now have a much better awareness of pace. "Tuesday was a day where we focussed on longer pieces so the 7:30 row was 10,000 metres and for some this was the longest time they had ever spent on the machine. I wish they hadn't told me that because what was to follow was a round trip of 100 kilometres on the bike to the coast and back which was going to take up most of the day. We took packed lunches and the weather was still hot and sunny enabling some of the group to enjoy a swim in the Med. "We staggered the return, sending off the slower cyclists first so they arrived around the same time. No break this time as we finished off the day with a 5,000 metres on the machine. There was a bit of a party last night ahead of today's rest day, which is good because things start to get tough from tomorrow." ========================================================= Marathon Day ========================================================= The New Zealand National Indoor Rowing Marathon Championship took place on Saturday 13th October recently. Full results can be found at http://www.rowingnz.org.nz/indoor/marathon2001/marathon.htm Anyway, we figured we'd use this as an excuse to give you advance warning of the first National Indoor Rowing Marathon day. Taking place on the 14th April, the same day as the London Marathon, everybody's encouraged to have a crack at the 42,195 metre marathon distance. We'll be posting a couple of training programmes up on our web site shortly, along with tips and hints, but we just thought it best to give everybody a bit of notice. Bonus points will probably be awarded for anybody who does it while wearing one of those "riding an ostrich" outfits, or dressed up as Jimmy Saville. ______________________________________________________FEEDBACK Like what you read? Dislike what you read? Ideas for future newsletters? Spotted a really silly error that would have been picked up by an eight year old pruf-reader? Make sure to tell us at webmaster@concept2.co.uk. Or, of course, you could always say something at our message board: http://www.concept2.co.uk/messageboard.htm. Oh go on. _____________________________________________________BACK ISSUES It used to be the case that time travel involved a masseeve scarf, a couple of dozen jelly babies and a sonic screwdriver with the polarity reversed. Well no longer; you can now visit by the past simply by going to http://www.concept2.co.uk/v4/newsletter_index.php3 and checking out the back issues of the Indoor Rowing News. 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