Devon Indoor Rowing Championships - Roundup

Here's my match report from last weekend:

The 2011 Devon Open Indoor Rowing Championships were held at Paignton Health and Leisure Club, based at Devon Hills Holiday Village on the 16th and 17th April. The Championships were held in order to raise funds for the Devon Air Ambulance, and at the time of writing, over £1,000 was raised.

Saturday saw the start of a 24 Hour Endurance Row (report here) and the 1000m and 100m races.

Competitors and spectators started arriving during the morning. It was clear there were plenty of nerves in the air but at the same time old friends caught up with each other and people met for the first time face to face which made for a very sociable atmosphere.

The 1km races started soon after 12 noon after a slight technical delay and the 60-69 Heavweight Men were off and racing. Bill Wright emerged the winner, retaining his title from last year with a very strong 3:13.5.

Bill Wright 3:13.5 - Tommy Gee 3:59.3 - John Gibbins 3:38.0

The 50-59 Heavyweight Men were next and a close fought battle ensued up to the half way mark between Andy Osborn and Mike Forder. Andy managed to put in a decisive burst in the final 250m to take the win in a time of 3:12.9. Mike finished second with 3:17.9.

The ladies race had a very strong line up from Newquay rowing club and some Cornish gig rowers. Naomi Watts pushed into the lead at a pace that many were questioning if she could hold. Some amazing power from Naomi as she managed to take it all the way to within 2 seconds of the 19-29 Hwt British Record with 3:32.4. Jenna Paul who had missed the lightweight weigh-in by a couple of pounds went within 1 second of the 19-29 lightweight British Record with 3:44.3, although she was classed as heavy for the race. Some top standard racing from the rest of the field, another notable Becks Campbell rowing 3:46.2.

Next race was the lightweights and we saw a new British Record set by Dennison Gould (red top) in the 40-49 category, a time of 3:13.4. Dennison couldnt' believe it for ages until we showed him the record list on the Concept2 website!

Next up we had some more lightweights and our only Junior competitor of the day. Joe Keating was in the 60-69 Lwt category, Brian Hussey in the 30-39 Lwt and his son Luke Hussey in the Junior 15 category.

 

At 2:00pm, we had a special exhibition race for Arnold Cooke to attempt to break the 70-74 Lwt Mens 2000m World Record. Joe Keating rowed alongside him whilst Arnold proved the rowing pedigree he has by smashign the record by a whoel 5 seconds. Arnold was an Oxford Blue and Olympian in the 60's and it was magnificent for us to witness such an impressive display of technique, focus and determination.

 

Back to the 1k racing next and the 40-49 Hwt Mens race. The British Record holder Gwyn Samuel was on erg 1, Andy Parkes on erg 2 and Colin Leiba on erg 3 - a great line up! Colin, a Navy submariner who went to the World Championships for the Navy over 2k, showed some incredibly raw power and at one point I thought the chain had snapped from the noise it was making! He finished in a time of 2:59.5 which was just 1 second off Gwyn's record but still under the magic 3 minutes he was aiming for.

 

The 19-29 Heavyweight Men had just 2 entrants due to a withdrawal due to injury. Matt Lewis and Kirtis Bell, both personal trainers from the Leisure Club were going head to head. Kirtis went into the race with a 3:10 PB and Matt had a 3:14 PB, but then both admittedly haven't trained or raced mush on the erg so it was anyone's race. Matt powered home to the win with a very credible 3:07.4 and Kirtis 3:13.9. 

 

The last 1000m race of the day saw event organiser, me, going up against Andrew Mudge who had posted some seriously quick training pieces recently and a relative newcomer from Cornwall, Simon Newton. I wasn't in PB shape so decided to try and adopt a low rate power stroke instead of a high rate lung burner. After a hard start I looked up to see Andy storming off at 1:27 pace... alot quicker than I could match so I settled into a power cruise. Simon was lurking behind me for most of the middle but then started to edge past and then storm off in pursuit of Andy. Andy held off the challenge with a fantastic 2:56.9 whilst Simon clocked a superb 2:58.6. Simon is a fascinating talent, and someone who will be challenging for Gold Medals at nationals before too long on that showing. Charlotte Davey retained her 19-29 Lwt Title alongside us proving she is as enthusiastic as ever!

At the conclusion of the 1000m races, we presented the medals and certificates with the help of Katherine Endacott. Katherine won Gold and Silver at the Comonwealth Games as a sprinter and is in the GB squad for London 2012 as well as the 2014 GB Bobsleigh squad. She also won the BBC SouthWest Sportswoman of the year 2010 title, so we were honoured to have her with us and dish out the bling!

After the medals, we asked for entrants for the 100m races. We had 11 ergs set up and every category was racing together. It was great fun!

I won the first one in 15.2s but I think we all wanted to try and go faster so we did a second run. Simon Newton beat me with 15.2s in that race so we had to have a decider - we both did 15.1s!!! We decided to call it a draw and be done as we were all tired by then! Andy Osborn set a British Record of 16.5s in the 50-59 Hwt category. Jeanette Fulcher set a British Record in the 50-59 category with 21.5s. If Jenna Paul had made weight she would have beaten Charlotte Davey's 19-29 Lwt British Record by 0.1s. Some great sprinting! 

Interestingly, we used the "Sit ready, Attention, Row" start which seemd to add on 0.5s to our times as last week I did 14.6 ands 14.7 at Basingstoke using the "5,4,3,2,1,Row" race start command and I was itting similar paces during the piece.

That was the end of the Saturday racing and next stop was the Blagdon Inn for a buffet after 6pm. We had lasagne, chips and garlic bread to give the Sunday marathon rowers some carb loading opportunity, and some beer!

 

For most, it was an early night and preparation for the marathon. I managed to get two hours sleep before joining Warren and Andy for the 24 hour row which was still going through the night. More of that in the other blog...

Sunday - the marathon racing was due to start at 9.30am and we'd set the room up with 17 ergs, a couple of fans, an ioniser, aircon and then when racing started we opened the doors for fresh air. Despite all that, it was still a little warm due to the smashing spell of weather we're having.

There were 3 Record Attempts on the cards - Julian Bunn, Terry Coging and Roger Bangay all had British or World Records in their sights as they sat down to begin. Roger found it tough going this time round, although he still finished 5 minutes quicker than he did here last year when he broke the World Record. The fact he broke it again since made it very hard for him to snatch another on Sunday! Terry Coging showed extreme determination and willpower to battle against cramp in the last 6k or so to break the 70-74 Hwt World Record in a time of 3:01:14.5! Julian was working hard and the record was in touching distance up until about 6k to go when his body started to struggle. He fought and fought but was unable to edge past the record and was just 41 seconds off the World Record.

Andrew Mudge set the quickest time of the day in a new overall Championship Record of 2:37:39.0. He was pulling 1:53 pace for the first half and then a 1:51 pace second half - truly awesome strength and endurance from him. Stu Thorpe, who has lost 9 stone in weight since beginning ont he Concept2 rower, managed to knock 7 minutes off his PB in a time of 2:52:13.0. In all, 9 rowers broke the magic 3 hour barrier.

 

After the marathon we had a barbeque outside next to the archery range and some of the competitors had a go at archery for fun and to try something a bit different before making their way home or going back to the accommodation for a well deserved rest.

As the organiser, it was great to see so many people turn up and the atmosphere was truly amazing, such friendly, supportive and determined people gettign together. I hope everyone enjoyed themselves, whether they set new PB's or not.

Next Year, we will have a new dance studio which will have a bigger capacity and higher ceilings which should enable us to control the climate a bit better. It's also west facing so the sun won't hit it until after the racing is over. We hope everyone comes back and more decide to join in next time! Here's to 2012... 

FULL RESULTS AND RACE REPLAYS HERE 

MORE PHOTOS FROM THE WEEKEND HERE

24 Hour Row for Devon Air Ambulance Charity

This weekend just gone, I organised an indoor rowing competition - the Devon Open Championships. It was to help raise funds for the Devon Air Ambulance and to give the sporting community an opportunity to get together and row a marathon at Paignton Health and Leisure Club based at Devon Hills Holiday Park.

I will write up the Championship highlights in another blog, this one is to cover a 24 Hour Endurance event we did throughout the weekend:

"Well, I feel like I'm about back in the land of the living now, just! A bit sore and tired but not such a zombie.

Really enjoyed the weekend, and was pleased to see so many people joining us to compete and spectate/support.

24 Hour

Warren Matthews and Chris Gregory were attempting the 40-49 Hwt Tandem World Record and raising funds for the Devon Air Ambulance in the process.

There was heck of a lot of preparation from the guys in terms of nutrition, creams, clothing, equipment, and of course a heck of a lot of training! From our end, it was about making sure there was a suitable area to row in, provide TV and seating, signage to let people know what it was all about, and fan/ioniser to help with breeze effect.

(Chris on the left, Warren on the right)



As it panned out, the plan was 15 min on/off. The pace they guys set off at was 1:58 or thereabouts, which seemed very ambitious but for a long way it looked like they were building up a very nice cushion on the target pace. After 7 hours, Chris suffered badly with the lungs not being able to provide/convert enough oxygen and the best decision was taken - to get the paramedic out and then for him to stop rowing. As Chris's wife had said to him before he set off to get here, please don't die. Life is much more important than records when all's said and done! He managed to go 7 hours, a huge achievement and great performance in itself!

Andy Osborn jumped in to substitute for Chris whilst Warren continued. I said to Warren - take your time to decide what you want to do, whether it's stop and recover and join the marathon, or even look to do a 100k individual the next day, etc. He chose to do the honourable thing and finish the challenge off, partly due to the mass of kind donations people had pledged and partly because he had trained for this and wanted to see it through.

As Andy hadn't trained for such a feat of endurance, I offered to help them get through it (depite my currently horrid form in endurance). The best strategy seemed to be for me to get a couple of hours kip and then come back in the early hours and do some of Andy's reps to enable him to recover and keep going. I managed to grab 2 hours sleep, after having had about 5 pints of lager shandy due to Katherine Endacott's fella insisting on buying me one after the other - possibly not the best prep!

I arrived back at the Leisure Club at 1:30am to find Andy looking very tired but very determined and Warren looked good although aching a bit here and there. My first shift was a 30 minute piece to give them both a break. I asked Warren about pace, he just said whatever is comfortable, no record to shoot for just finish the job. I did 7333m in that stint which felt ok, although my hams were stiff from the racing in the afternoon. We then did 20 mins in the pattern Warren, Andy, Warren, Graham, Warren, Andy, Warren, etc... this gave Andy and I an hour between reps which sounds easy doesn't it?! Warren continued to bang out the reps like a metronome.

Each 20 minute piece felt the same - ok for the first 10 minutes. Sweat starting to pour out at 11 mins in. 12-15 mins in, looking over shoulder to make sure next man on is not sleeping and getting ready to take over, last 5 mins starting to ache and pushing through to the end. I finished most reps off by doing low rate higher power strokes in the last minute and then a 1:45 or so last stroke so that the changeover could take place without too much panic and the next stroke being around on pace.

As the moon started to go low in the sky, around 4am, we started to think about it getting light again, then the sun rising, then the leisure team re-appearing at 7am, and suddenly things started to feel like the end was within reach.

(you don't know how good it felt to see that sunrise!)

I took the opportunity to have a lay down just after 6am - on the floor. I didn't sleep but was in that semi-consicous state where you could still hear the therapeutic whir of the flywheel every 2 to 3 seconds or so. I became aware of another voice in the room, which was comforting, it turned out to be Jonathan Turns. he'd come along to lend support which was greatly appreciated! When I got up, I was stiff all over and my muscles were going into cramp spasms. A quick walkabout and some limbering up and it passed, thankfully.

At some point in the early hours I'd said "Hey, we can get 350km" and we were all, "Um, yes we could, if we work hard...." we didn't really discuss times or targets much after that but we all picked up the pace a bit to put in as strong an effort as our bodies could manage.

The sun came up and the leisure team arrived and we were heading into the last rep. Knowing that there just two more to go was a great feeling! Warren had worked out his total time rowed and average pace and worked out the pattern required for us to row so that he did his 12 hours on the button. After Oz's last rep (which he was understandably relieved to have finished, and managed to knock in a sub 2:00 piece!), I had a 15 min and then a 10 min piece to do, with Warren doing a 15 and then the final 10mins. the feeling of knowing you've just a few minutes left to do was great, we both pushed hard and we saw the total average pace come back down to 2:02.5 and then even again to 2:02.4 as Warren did an astonishing 2700m+ last 10 mins to take us over the 353km mark!!!

(Warren's last stroke was a 1:34, and the total result - 353,045m)




No records set, but a very satisfying achievement to have gone quite a bit over 350km for 353,045m. I said to Kev (leisure team chap who's leaving for a David Lloyd's gym in Exeter) - "There's the target for your new gym - get 4 guys and beat that if you can!

Warren looked as good at the end as he did at the start, just amazing how well he coped and pushed the pace so hard for so long. Sub 2:02 pace for him over 12 hours out of the 24.

(Warren rowing the last stretch, Andy Osborn in Black T Shirt looking well considering the effort he put in)

I hope the people who donated will understand that the effort that went in by all of the guys involved to see it through and work extremely hard to get there deserves the kind donations given. Thank you all for that.

We've almost raised £1,000 from the event and the justgiving donations which is fantastic, thank you all!

If anyone reading would like to donate, please visit the Just Giving page here: 

One thing I never really appreciated until the row - a 2:02 paced stroke doesn't pull itself..."

Tabata Row and Weights

I've got a 1000m race on Saturday and not feeling as fit as I was last year so decided on a quick, intense session to help build some lactic tolerance. The idea is that the legs will last another 50m into the race before turning to jelly! (I hope) 

Warm up - 3000m at 25spm @ 1:59.2 pace - steady, building a sweat up (just under 12 mins)

Tabata Row - 20 second burts with 10 seconds pause x 8

112m, 114m, 112m, 112m, 112m, 111m, 111m, 112m - total 895m (summary rounded it down from 896m)

average pace and rate - 1:29.3 at 33spm

My best is 916m from last September so I'm a bit behind but at least I finished strongly.

Weights:

2 x 8 x 60kg straight leg deadlifts (working hams and lower back)

6 x 60kg power cleans (power work)

60kg power clean and jerk + press

70kg power clean and jerk + press

80kg power clean and jerk

90kg power clean and jerk (a bit wobbly)

Cool Down

10 mins recumbent bike, first 5 @ Heart Rate of 135 bpm, second 5 slowing to under 110 bpm.

Basingstoke 2011 - Indoor Rowing Sprint Competition

Today was the Basingstoke Indoor Rowing Competition. I went last year and had a great time, rowing next to the World Record holder Rob Smith. He gave me some extra motivation to come back and try and nab a record of my own.

I set off at 7.50am with an empty long wheelbase transit van. The drive up was very pleasant - quiet roads, lovely sunshine, great scenery including Stonehenge. I arrived at the venue at around 10.45, so a little under 3 hours.

I was greeted by Dougie Lawson, the event organiser, an old friend Joe Keating and a few others I know from previous competitions. The nerves were kicking in now - not long until crunch time!

Before my race, there were some 2500m races. This takes competitors between 8 and 11 mins approximately depending on age and standard. They all did really well and I was glad not to be joining them this time round for that distance!

I started warming up just after midday, race was at 12:20. Just did some easy rowing and some power bursts, not max efforts but enough to get the muscles going.

Before I went to my race machine, I asked the biggest bloke in there (Rich Cheeseman) to hold the machine down at the front so it didn't bounce or slide, like it did last year. He did a good job, it didn't move at all.

I was very focused before the start, visualising the first few strokes and the power cruise through the main part of the race. When I set off I hit about 5-6 hard strokes, getting the pace down to 1:09 briefly and then sitting on 1:10 and 1:11's until the gradual fade started. I remember the average pace dropping below 1:13 shortly after 100m and then back out to 1:13 at 200m and then the lactic acid started to take effect and it got really hard to keep the power coming! I faded quite badly in the last 50m but still managed my fastest ever time on race software (there is a 0.5s delay usually) so not too bad a result in the end - 44.8s an average pace of 1:14.7.

Focusing at the start                                               Gurning whilst in full flow!

I was totally out of breath, legs felt like jelly and pretty much whacked! I had about 15 mins to recover before the next race which I was also in - the bleep test. This is similar to the standard bleep test, but on a rower obviously. The pace starts off nice and comfortable and gets quicker each time until you can't go any more - you do 1 minute and then rest for 1 minute before starting the next. I tried to get through them as efficiently as possible but I found I was going too fast on each one, so wasting energy. I stopped midway through rep 8 I think. The winner finished rep 10 I think. If I was fresh, I could have probably made him have to go again but he was still fairly comfortable after everyone else dropped out!

Next was a chance to see an international competitor doing the 300m. Dirk Moeller had come over from Norway (although German national). He's done 1:15 for 500m before, which is in the top 10 times of all time! It was great to meet him. I told him his target was to beat me, which he did by 0.5s - 44.3s for 300m. I still won my race as he is in a different age category to me. He was so strong, it was great to watch, but of course I want to beat his time next time!

For the 100m, Dirk and I went head to head. On my second stroke I came off the seat slightly and so didn't get full power down. He did 14.7 to my 14.9. We were offered another race afterwards so of course I made him. This time I hit it right and got down to 1:08 for a few strokes, ending up on 14.6s, same as Dirk. We stopped there as we were both shattered from racing.

At the end, we had the machines to load into the transit van for me to take back for our competition next week. It took me about 3 hours to get back, I had a quick bite to eat and a coffee before going to unload the machines and store them away - which took ages on my own, and was like a bloomin hard workout! Then, I had to drive half an hour to dro pthe van off and collect our vehicle back.

Finally got home to sit down around 10.30pm...shattered but a great day!