For most of their rowing careers, the athletes in the US Legs, Trunk and Arms four with coxswain have competed over the traditional two-thousand meter sprint courses.
That is, until they switched to training and racing in para-rowing events, which have been run at 1000 meters, requiring them to figure out how to row half the distance, which is more of a sprint and requires a completely different approach to training and racing.
For the rowers and their coaches, training for and getting used to the half distance was complicated and often frustrating.
"I had a hard time figuring out the right level of speed work and power and rigging to optimize a thousand meters because it was new even to me and my competitive experience as an athlete and coach," said CRI's Ellen Minzner, who has coached the US para four to silver medals at the last two world championships and the 2016 Paralympics.
Those days are over. Starting with the 2017 World Rowing Championships in Sarasota, all para rowing events will be contested over the full two-thousand meter course following a FISA rules change at 2017 Extraordinary Congress in Tokyo geared to bringing para rowing more in line with the rest of the sport.
"This is great for the US," Minzner said. "It's what we train for all the time. This is easy. I'm relieved to be back in my comfort zone, and I think the athletes are too. It's much more similar to the training that they are doing at their school and clubs. The transition for us is to get back to what we're good at."
Of the five-person crew in the PR3, a new FISA designation for the former LTA4 with coxswain, for three of the rowers and coxswain Jenny Sichel, rowing two-thousand meters is what they did in high school and college. Only first time athlete Mike Varro is completely new to the sport. Varro started rowing last year and made the four out of the selection camp.
And what he lacks in experience and the reference to distance, he makes up for in height and strength, according to Minzner. "We knew we needed some length and height and he certainly brings that," Minzner said. "I was skeptical at first to bring someone in just for power with limited experience. But he is one of the most coachable athletes I have ever seen."
Varro was in the boat recently for a weekend camp in Boston that was serving as a tune up for the world championships that begin Sept. 24. Getting used to the new distance for the crew was secondary to their getting used to rowing together. Between life and school commitments, and the World Championships coming later in the year than normal, the crew has been together a total of seven full days.
But, the new distance is making training easier, according to the crew.
"It's about time," said 2016 Paralympian and three-time crew member, Danielle Hansen. "It just makes more sense. We train for 2k, so why race half that? Rather than training for three minutes, we're training for six minutes, so it feels more like the way we actually train.
"I felt that with 1k, that we were getting gypped. We put all the same time and effort in, but only got three-minutes to prove ourselves instead of double that."
Zachary Burns and Jaclyn Smith agreed. "We all race 2k anyway, always have," Burns said. "We've been doing that since high school and college. It was almost an inconvenience to be training all year for 2k and then have to race 1k."
"I think it's a really good decision for the fact that a lot of kids in the para program in the United States and internationally are already racing 2k, so it draws more people into the sport and brings a good eye to the fact that we can do just as much as anyone else," said Smith. "I've been rowing 2k since I started rowing. I prefer it and I'm looking forward to it."
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