After a two year COVID hiatus, the 2023 Erg Sprints welcomed racers back to the Home of the 'Titans'--the red- and blue-themed gym at Alexandria City High School that hosts scores of rowers each midwinter, pandemics permitting.
This year's event featured 1252 entrants--some of who were doing the event's highly encouraged doubling or even tripling up--from 92 clubs, racing everything from the early morning half and full erg marathons to kid 500's, but the 2k's were the highlight, as ever.
row2k caught up with the fastest folks in the Open 2k and the big junior winners on the day.
Open 2k Winners Go Sub-6, Sub-7
Potomac Boat Club's Paul Marcy cracked six minutes to win the Men's Open 2k--setting a new 40+ American record of 5:59.7--while the Elizabeth Gilmore broke 7 minutes to win Women's Open 2k in 6:57.2.
The 39 year old Gilmore, who just started rowing a little over a year ago to recover from a running injury, was competing in her first ever in-person erg race. She took both the Open 2k and Open 30 minute titles back home with her to the garage she usually races in.
Read our full row2k interview on Gilmore and her story here.
Marcy, the Open Men's winner, has been at the rowing game a bit longer: a 2004 graduate of the Naval Academy, he rowed in an IRA Grand Final for Navy and a World Cup for the USA, and now the active duty Marine Corps Officer trains with Potomac Boat Club's High Performance Program.
"I have to thank PBC and coach Rick Trimble for providing a great training environment," said Marcy. "There is a diverse group, from juniors to senior masters at PBC, and everyone is very supportive of everyone's individual goals. After rowing with both the PBC masters sweep and sculling squads, I am currently training with the PBC HPP, fitting my training in around work and family life."
His new 2k record goes along with the new 40+ 6k American record (a 19:07.2) that he pulled earlier in the week, and Concept2 recently confirmed that Marcy started the year as the American 30+ 6k record, with a score he pulled in 2015, until Thomas Phifer bested it with his 18:30.8 in the January round of National Team testing.
"The piece went pretty well," Marcy said of his 2k here. "I had a decent idea from my training that I was in sub-6 fitness. This race was done as part of a testing week for the High Performance Program, which also included a 6k. My goal was to have a piece where I finished strong, feeling like I could go faster, not struggling to hang on. I took the first 1k relatively conservatively, not looking at splits much.
"I crossed the 1k feeling pretty good, at about 1:30.5 or so, and was able to start pulling 1:29s. With 700 to go, I was relatively sure I could work the average down low enough for a small sprint to take it sub-6."
When asked abut the difference between racing the erg and doing 2k on the water, Marcy said: "The erg is probably a bit more internal, and less reactive to other competitors' pacing. In both cases, you need to maintain efficiency while at redline."
"It is always fun to compete in front of spectators, after having done some virtual racing last couple years," Marcy added, about racing in-person here. "It is good atmosphere in there, and the event organizers did a great job."
Marcy's American record for the 40-49 age group is, for now, a bit off the World Record 2k mark of 5:47.8, but he is on pace to set the 50+ record if he stays after it, and stays sub-6, so we asked him if that was on his list of long term goals:
"You never know! I'll just take it one year at a time. I do enjoy training, but you never know how the body will hold up, or other life events outside of your control. The records do help as a motivational mark during training."
Cors and Bruen Win U19 2ks
Aurelia Cors and Cole Bruen proved the fastest junior athletes in the gym this year, each winning their respective U19 divisions comfortably: Cors in 7:15.0 and Bruen in 6:09.0. In fact, the only junior within five seconds of either one was the U17 Women's winner, Lia Nathan from Sidwell Friends, who went 7:20 flat.
Women's winner Aurelia Cors, a senior, led a strong contingent from the National Cathedral School with her 7:15 in the U19 race. Since she primarily plays basketball through the winter, the race was the first big test back on the erg for Cors since last summer's Olympic Development Camp.
"It was very exciting," said Cors of her Erg Sprints experience. "I loved being able to see my teammates compete too. I haven't done a hard erg with other people since last summer, so I got a big adrenaline boost. Being able to see where I was in my flight was a big motivator and having my team cheering me on and congratulating me after I was done is such a special thing and I'm glad we can all compete in person again."
"The 2k started off really strong, stronger than I expected. I think the average was around 1:46 for the first 500. That's usually how I do 2ks though, with a strong start and finish and a more stable base pace. For the middle 1000m, I was slightly off my target, and I was feeling very tired, but I was able to keep it pretty constant. For the last 500, I started a small sprint at about 400m left and then just started pulling as hard as I could for the last 200m. Overall, I would have liked to have a stronger base pace, but my start and sprint were enough to average out to my goal.
"The first 500m really gave me a lot of confidence, and I could see what place I was in. I started off in around 4th or 5th place, but by the end of the first 1000m, I was solidly in first place. That gave me a lot of motivation to hold my splits and I also wanted to widen the gap. I knew I could win it by the start of the sprint, but I also really wanted to PR. I ended up exactly hitting my PR by the end, so I was slightly disappointed that I didn't improve, but still proud that I was able to repeat it.
"I'm very excited for the spring season to start," said Cors, "and I'm hoping that our program can win some medals at our regattas. On the erg, my personal goal is definitely to have a PR by the end of the season, and if I can, I would love to be around 7:10. On the water, I'm hoping that I can develop my rowing stroke more and hopefully help my team to a victory."
The U19 Men's winner, Cole Bruen, a senior, made the trip up from Albemarle High School in Charlottesville, Virginia, and went into his piece with a strong sense that his training had him ready to pull a great piece.
"I knew before even starting the 2k that I was going to PR as I was confident in my training prior. My goal was sub 6:08 and while I didn't get quite there I know that will be achieved soon.
"While I was a touch off my goal the piece did culminate in a PR. I felt that I paced it nicely so there was no unpleasant 'dying' at the very end."
He said that the race flew by: "I was surprised by how quickly the third 500 meters went, it felt like I blinked and I was on the last 500 meters which was really good for the mental side of the 2k."
"It was fun racing in person again because the energy of the other competitors and viewers contributes to your own energy and gets you excited and ready to race."
When asked about his next goals for the spring, Bruen admitted he is focused on breaking 6:08 next, adding "but I also know that there are people faster than me on the erg and definitely on the water so I'm ready to just continue putting in work to gain speed. I hope that with this work I've been putting in it'll show with how I do racing this spring and summer."
More from Erg Sprints can be found in the row2k galleries, and full results are available here.
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