SEATTLE, WA - World indoor record holder Luanne Mills of Seattle qualified for the CRASH-B World Indoor Rowing Championships with a win on Saturday at Ergomania! - Northwest Indoor Rowing Championships.
The 25th annual Ergomania, held at John Hay Elementary School in Seattle, featured nearly 200 competitors, ages 13-80, including five current or former U.S. national team members.
Mills, 68, won the women's lightweight veteran B division (ages 60-69) with a time of 8:10.5 over 2,000 meters. Mills rows for Seattle's Pocock Rowing Center and will be making her fifth trip to the world indoor rowing championships.
The fastest time of the day belonged to Pocock Rowing Center's Warren Anderson, who won the men's openweight division with a 2,000 meter time of 5:50.8. Anderson, who won the collegiate division at the 2006 CRASH-B World Indoor Rowing Championships, missed qualifying by a mere two seconds for the openweight division of this year's world indoor rowing championships.
"I was fighting to break the 5:50 barrier, but I came up a little short in the sprint," said Anderson. "I just ran out of gas."
The women's openweight division was won by Pocock Rowing Center's Nicole Sylvester, with a time of 6:45.4, also just two seconds short of qualifying for the world indoor rowing championships.
"I was really pleased with my time," said Sylvester. "We did not do any specific training for this race, so it's nice to be able to train through and still get a good time."
Seattle's Lindsay Meyer, who won the bronze medal in the single at last year's World Junior Championships, rowed a 6:52.2 and finished in second place, just seven seconds behind Sylvester.
"That was the most consistent 2,000 I've ever done," said Meyer. "It was awesome to get to race alongside all my Pocock teammates."
Both Sylvester and Meyer are training with a group of elite rowers at the Pocock Rowing Center for the U.S. national team trials this spring.
Other winners include Lucas Goodman, Green Lake Crew, who rowed a 6:26.9 to win the junior men's openweight division and Katelin Benson, Pocock Rowing Center Juniors, who rowed a 7:16.2 to win the junior women's openweight division.
Martin Fisher won the men's openweight masters division (ages 30-39) with a time of 6:55.8 and Kira Franz won the women's openweight division (ages 30-39) with a time of 7:47.0.
All the athletes were rowing Concept 2's "Model D" ergometers. Ergomania! Is one of 20 indoor regattas in North America that serve as qualifiers for the 2007 CRASH-B World Indoor Rowing Championships held in Boston on February 25.