As the day approaches, there's plenty of speculation on who is going to win, if any records will fall, if anyone will lose it completely and publicly. But the mind of each participant is focused on how full a pull they can, well, pull off, and there's a lifetime and a story to go with it getting onto every erg this weekend. Here are a just a few tidbits from the entry lists, along with the seedings in the top events.
There will be three 90-year old rowers strapping onto the footboards this weekend, two lights, one heavy. One of them, Robert Lee (San Fran, not CRI) is part of a father-son combo with son Robert Lee (CRI), who is in the 60-64 category.
Jack Fultz, racing in the light Vet men's 60-64 category, was winner of 1976 Boston Marathon.
The inimitable CRASH-B trophy, an actual working hammer, is officially called California Framer with hickory wood handle. Maura Conron advises winners to "please check your airline before taking on as carry on as they may be confiscated."
What's in a name? Some good names to have at CRASH-B:
Among the cream of the crop this year, including world record holders and world record hopefuls, we have:
Joan Van Blom, 07:35.4, Long Beach Rowing Association, Lightweight Veteran Women (Age 55-59), Long Beach, CA, USA, Long Beach Qualifier--current WR holder for LWT 55-59 as well as 50-54
Joe Clinard, Jr, 09:47.9, Unaffiliated, Veteran Men (Age 90-94), Fairview, TN, USA, Chattanooga Qualifier--hopes to break world record 90-94
Lisa Schlenker, 7:20.8, NYAC, Lightweight Senior Women (Age 40-49), Lake Oswego, OR, USA, Seattle Qualifier--holds 30-39 LWT record and fastest woman in world for lightweights
Paul Siebach, 06:25.1, N. Virginia Rowing Club, Lightweight Veteran Men (Age 50-54), Oakton, VA, USA, Alexandria Qualifier--set new WR LWT 50-54 at Alexandria race 1/31
Luanne Mills, 08:14.8, Pocock Rowing Center, Lightweight Veteran Women (Age 70-74), Seattle, WA, USA, Seattle Qualifier--set new WR in Seattle for LWT 70-74
Stephen Rounds, 07:46.6, Carnegie Lake Rowing Assoc, Veteran Men (Age 80-84), Princeton Jct, NJ, USA, Baltimore & NYC qualifier--Going for new WR for 80-84, currently holds WR for both hwt 70-74 & 75-79
China
Tang Bin and Zhang Yangyang - Open Women - W4x Olympic Champions in Beijing.
Tian Liang - Open Women - W2x 2007 World Champion.
Zhang Lin - Open Men - LM4- 2006 World Champion.
Spain
Sonia Boubeta - Lightweight Open Women - defending champion.
Finland
Hanna Tuominen - Lightweight Women 30-39 - second last year.
Italy
Marcello Miani - Lightweight Open Men - Italian LM2x in Beijing.
France
Cedric Berrest and Julien Bahain - Open Men - 3rd in the M4x in Bejing.
Estonia
Allar Raja - Open Men - 4th at CRASH-B in 2007. 3rd in M4x at 2006 World Championships.
Kaisa Pajusalu - Open Women - 1st at the Junior World Championships in 2006. 2nd in the Junior event at CRASH-B in 2007.
Denmark
Juliane Elander - Lightweight Open Women - 2007 CRASH-B champion.
Thomas Ebert - Lightweight Men 30-39 - LM4- Olympic Champion in 2004 & 2008.
Germany
Susanne Schmidt - Women 30-39 - World Champion in W8+ in 2003
Peter Ording - Lightweight Men 30-39 - World Champion in LM1x in 2004.
Marie-Louise Drager - Lightweight Open Women - World Champion LW2x in 2005.
Mexico
Lila Perez - Lightweight Women 30-39 - Mexican LW2x in Beijing.
Patrick Loliger - Men Open - Mexican M1x in Beijing.
Finally, on the erg, a top seed is hardly a major boon - nothing like middle lanes, a better draw, wind protection, or the like - it merely means you get a more high-profile machine on which to suffer and struggle. This year's CRASH-B seeds, which of course are rarely the order of finish (which is the point of racing, after all):
CRASH-B top Seedings 2009
Lwt Open Men | ||
Greciuschin | Evgheni | 1 |
Jimenez | Juan | 2 |
Newell | Will | 3 |
Zhang | Lin | 4 |
Andre | Ryan | 5 |
Washburn | Taylor | 6 |
Larsen | Jakob Sogaard | 7 |
Zamboni | Augusto | 8 |
Miani | Marcello | 9 |
Hafner | Moritz | 10 |
LaCava | Nick | 11 |
Dotto | Scott | 12 |
Farrington | Justin | 13 |
Arriaga | Alberto | 14 |
Kirlin | Ryan | 15 |
Meyer | Austin | 16 |
Lwt Open Women | ||
Connell | Carey | 1 |
Bates | Elizabeth | 2 |
Gottesdiener | Laura | 3 |
Saeger | Hillary | 4 |
Robinson | Katherine | 5 |
Sechser | Michelle | 6 |
Boubeta | Sonia | 7 |
Trannel | Michelle | 8 |
Drager | Marie-Louise | 9 |
Elander Rasmussen | Juliane | 10 |
Andrea | Francesca | 12 |
McAlpine | Lindsay | 13 |
van Meerbeek | Ilse | 14 |
slocumb | magdalena | 15 |
Maldonado | Luisa | 16 |
Open Men | ||
Robatzek | Jens | 1 |
Wheeler | Matthew | 2 |
Davenport | Robert | 3 |
Iannazzo | Mike | 4 |
Hartwig | Chuck | 5 |
Orthwein | Lukens | 6 |
Sansone | Leopoldo | 7 |
BAHAIN | Julien | 8 |
BERREST | Cedric | 9 |
Raja | Allar | 10 |
Morgan | Scott | 11 |
Rosetti | Bruno | 12 |
Cumsky | Alexander | 13 |
Nunn | Jack | 14 |
Rummel | Henrik | 15 |
Seymour | Gareth | 16 |
Pietrzak | Amadeusz | 17 |
Livingston | Spencer | 18 |
Mameniskis | Thomas | 19 |
Woodard | Jimmy | 20 |
Open Women | ||
Persse | Lee-Ann | 1 |
Coffey | Olivia | 2 |
Dell | Natalie | 3 |
Zelenka | Sarah | 4 |
Richter | Julia | 5 |
Tang | Bin | 6 |
Pajusalu | Kaisa | 7 |
Yan | Xiaoxia | 8 |
Gerrand | Tess | 9 |
Tian | Liang | 10 |
Zhang | Yangyang | 11 |
Ritzel | Taylor | 12 |
Lofgren | Esther | 13 |
Mead | Meredith | 14 |
Allan | Tessie | 15 |
Steinhaus | Kelly | 16 |
Joy | Genevieve | 17 |
Saouma | Caroline | 18 |
Morgan | Samantha | 19 |
Townsend | Ronnie | 20 |
Senior Men (in order from top)
Scanio, Joseph
Donnelly, Skip
Pettersson, Kent Lennart
Benko, Andrew
Pazos, Luis
Mcdevitt, Jim
Berger, Wayne
Wylie, David
Downs, Pete
Mennin, Mark
Goujiamanis, Taso
Hurley, Dale
Divan, James
Romand, Daniel
Goodwin, Shaw
Preston, John
Marx, Johannes
Humphrey, Scott
Salley, Edward
Hornney, Scott
Bogdanovics, Egils
Senior Women
Merritt, Marianne
Frykman, Helen
Introini, Elisabetta
Haahr Hansen, Margit
Petrus, Edit
Duff, Siobhan
Platzer, Veronika
Dropo, Carla
Coleman, Aggie
Bradstreet, Debbie
Grigoryeva, Olga
Donlon, Sherry
Powell, Adrienne
Stephenson, Sheila
Goodness, Chrissy
Magnani, Jennifer
Stiglin, Marta
Scammell, Karen
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02/20/2009 2:08:30 PM
"Wind protection"... in Bean-town, no less