Another CRASH-B world indoor rowing championships is in the books, and this edition was no lesser evidence of the madness that rowing training can be than any other. Just the idea of busing/driving/flying/walking to Boston and Agannis Arena to row an ergometer that is identical to the one in your basement or boathouse is outright kooky – and going to watch the event feels no less questionable.
But the urge to race against one another, and against the clock, seems to be a basic human urge, so there were we all at Agannis Arena once again. The event is truly a big and complex event now, but it still comes off with humor and good spirits, no small feat on the part of the heaps of workers and volunteers who make it happen. The whole thing is brought off and held together by a heap of folks from the Boston rowing community (mostly still driven by Harvard-affiliated folks, as was the case way back when the event was founded); perhaps only if all those people would get along a little less well like in some other rowing towns, we all might be spared… nah, won't happen.
Evolving into Fourth Decade
Now in its fourth decade, the event has gone from a bunch of 1980s national team sculler types getting organized enough to schedule a time to beat on the new bicycle-wheel rowing machines together to a day-long event with announcers, awards ceremonies, satellite qualifiers, webstreams, and security checks. The event keeps evolving; in 2013, the racing started off with perhaps the most tricky, and perhaps the most inspiring events (not to mention challenging) of the day, the Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) events, an adaptive (now Para-rowing) event where competitors are assisted by electrical pulses to disabled or paralyzed muscles to encourage muscle contraction. Some of the competitors can apply the electrical impulses on their own via a special grip on the oarhandle, while others have an assistant with a small electrical box administering the pulses. I spoke to a few of the competitors, and learned that the timing of the pulses is critical, so not only does the athlete need to have good timing, but the assistant needs to have impeccable timing as well. "Coxing" these events is a even more than having a good race plan and go-to calls – it is a stroke-by-stroke challenge, whew.
At Crash-B, the adaptive part of the program is expanding all the time, another sign of the mainstreaming of adaptive rowing worldwide. It is still a challenge to make happen – having done a lot of adaptive events in the past, I know that just getting a wheelchair to and from an event like this is a lot of work. But the pararowing not only adds an element of inspiration and forward thinking to the event, it also brings its own unique charms, such as the group of service dogs also hard at work at the event. Merely having cool and smart pets around took some of the edge off the madness, it seemed to me at least – for example, the dude rowing the erg in full sweats just outside the weigh-in area was a visage that only an encounter with a cute dog and owner could fully chase away.
It helped when one of the winners sent his service dog up to the awards platform during the medal ceremonies, where the dog stole the show of course. Dogs are just more fun than ergs, sorry.
World Records and Winners
Speaking of animals... here are some of the world records and winners stories from the the 2013 race.
Christine Cavallo set the world record for junior light women with a 7:05.7 that would have also won the collegiate lightweight event, and the open lightweight event – tho NCAA rules do not allow Cavallo to compete alongside collegiate competitors – tho they can in the same building on the same day and maybe even on the same erg, go figure. It wasn't like there was no competition; world champ single sculler Fabiana Beltrame was racing (tho the open winner was Erin Roberts in 7:08.5). Cavallo is headed to Stanford to row with the lightweights there next year.
Charlie Hamlin set a new world record of 6:40.3 in the Vet men's 65-69 category, but he wasn't that surprised - he had unofficially broken the previous WR last Wednesday morning in his basement on his last practice piece. Hamlin did go 0.1 faster on Sunday, so technically broke his own unofficial WR with an official WR to get himself into the books.
More World Records:
- Jeanne Daprano, Women 75–79 Lightweight, 8:48.4
- Dean Smith, Men 85–89, 8:10.5
- Caroline McDonald, Adaptive Women Arms–Shoulders, 4:32.2
For men's open winner Christian Kader of Cal, the awards ceremonies seemed almost more painful than the racing – in the end, Kader won three medals (I believe Open, Collegiate, and U-23), and had to keep returning to the medal stand, hold up his medals for photos, the whole thing. The first time up there, he had a good enough time - by the last time, he was trying hard not to be embarrassed; such is the price of fame I guess.
In the open women's event, the sole 2012 US Olympic team participant, gold medalist Megan Musnicki, gave away about a head on height to Olena Buryak , and had to settle for second with a 6:39, which is sure not slow. Buryak is truly a bit of an erg slayer, as she nearly coasted in the last couple hundred meters, and looked pretty certain to have been able to beat 6:30, or maybe even the world record, if she had to.
Right after the end of the women's open event, the third level of the men's open event took to the front rows of ergs, and at the end of the first men's piece, the male rowers who were sitting on the same two ergs as Musnicki and Buryak were high-fiving at the end of their pieces, in which they very nearly tied – tho no one had the heart to tell them that the two women who had rowed the same erg 15 minutes earlier had gone faster! it ain't easy racing the best in the world, of any gender or event class.
More From the Floor
Tom Darling posted a 6:11.4 to win the men's 50-54 event, but it was second-place finisher Chris Ives' medal stand stand-in that got hoisted up on the podium. Ives had sent his son up to get the medal, and the big guys Darling and bronze medalist Ken Gates moved the boy to the middle spot on the podium and picked him up, Olympic single sculler style.
The oldest competitor at the event was 95- year-old Paul Randall, who rowed 11:20.7. Cross your fingers that you can go 2k at 95, wow.
Musnicki was the only 2012 US Olympian competing, but Sarah Trowbridge did take a turn behind the erg, if not on the erg - to cox her mom through her race!
I know it is gratuitous, but it is also obligatory, and the looks in the eyes of these volunteers indicate they know it is coming, so let's get it over with: the annual trip to the trashcan photo.
The CRASH-B is truly an international event these days; you could hear countless competitors speaking in Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, Russian, and more; even at the medals stand, photographer Igor Belakovskiy was giving instructions in Russian to the Latvian and Ukrainian competitors, and I used Spanish to bridge the gap with Brazilian rowers. One thing I learned was that this hairstyle takes two hours to do on race day – and also should get some of the credit for the Brasilian's bronze medal, as it added a psych-up factor.
Also in the international spirit, CRASH-B director Linda Muri put down her cellphone, microphone and radio to come down off the center stand and cox her former Pan Am Games competitor Martha Garcia of Mexico.
As the snow tapered off at the end of the event, the main talk was whether folks' flights were actually going to get them home; from most reports and texts from the airport, it sounded like things went well; here is hoping everyone got home safe and sound.
In the parking lot under the arena, folks were rolling just-purchased, lightly-used ergs to their cars, loading them strategically into Outbacks and Volvos, and headed out into the blustery winter evening – all solid proof that we'll all be back again next year for more.
We saw some impressive performances this year, but perhaps not everyone had a great day on the erg - and it being 2013, we can only end this report with a meme: This Rower is Not Impressed.
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