Indoor Rowing Competitions - Rowing Your Way to Fun, Fitness, and Fame

Gather a bunch of rowers deprived of their usualintroduced their ergometer. The ergometer's
competitive outlet. Mix in the enforced indoor training ofrevolutionary design used a flywheel to generate wind
a New England winter. Add a dash of ingenuity and aresistance keyed to how hard the rower was pulling at
healthy helping of high spirits. Mix well with a trainingthe oars.
machine equipped with new technological capabilitiesAccording to rowers, working out on the Concept 2 is
and the results could well be the start of a newabout as close as you can get to being on the water
competitive sporting event that attracts over 2,000without being on the water. In addition, Concept 2 uses
competitors every year. If the timing is right, it coulda standard calibration, which means that a rower's
even start a whole new sport with enthusiasts theresults will be the same from machine to machine. This,
world over. That's exactly what happened when amore than anything else, is what makes competitive
group of bored athletes decided to spark up theirindoor rowing possible.
winter training with a little bit of fun competition.Indoor Rowing Attracts A World of Competitors
The Birth of Indoor RowingOriginally designed by rowers for rowers, the Concept
In the beginning, there was the Charles. That's the2 rapidly became THE training tool for off-season
Charles River of Love That Muddy Water fame. It'screw athletes whose rivers were frozen over. At the
the home of the annual Head of the Charles Regatta,same time, its design and durability made it the
the two-day river race event that attracts over 7,000machine most likely to end up on the gym floor in
athletes each year to compete against each other inhealth clubs and gymnasiums around the world. While
24 races. It's also the home turf - if one can refer to athe first few CRASH-B events featured mostly
waterway that way - of the Harvard crew. And it'soff-season scullers, it wasn't long before they were
where, in 1981, the sport of Competitive Indoor Rowingjoined by competitive indoor rowers who had never
was born.been on the water.
It began with the U.S. boycott of the 1980 WinterThese days, competitive indoor rowing features
Olympics and grew out of the boredom of a group ofdivisions for just about everyone from 14 year old high
athletes looking for a way to beat the winter doldrums.school freshmen to 92-year-old
Concept 2, a maker of rowing machines, had justgreat-great-grandmothers. Indoor rowing offers fitness
introduced their new 'ergometer', a rowing machineand fun for nearly everyone. Many races include a
with a revolutionary new design. The athletes,paraplegic division, and in April, 2005, S. Korea held the
members of the 1976-1980 U.S. Olympics and Worldfirst ever Blind-Only Indoor Regatta. Indoor rowing
Teams, used the ergometer to practice and work out.seems to appeal to almost everyone who tries it, with
Their naturally competitive natures took hold and theyits combination of smooth grace, hard training and
organized the first ever Charles River Association offierce competition.
Sculling Has-Beens Indoor Regatta. (The name wasIndoor Rowing Events Worldwide and Right Next Door
later changed, says legend, to avoid making swingEach entrant into an indoor rowing event must report
rowers feel left out. These days CRASH-B stands forhis or her time on an erg for matching purposes. The
Charles River All-Star Has-Beens.)race entrants are seeded according to their reported
The first regatta pitted about 20 rowers against eachtime in much the same way that tennis players are
other - not on the water, but on the indoor rowingseeded to compete against others that match their
machines that were their training ponies. It took place inskills. On race day, each racer will compete in heats
Harvard's Newell Boathouse, and it was a far cry fromagainst other rowers whose times closely match his
the event that has grown in 25 years to include overown. The races are standardized - 2000 meters - and
2,000 competitors in 32 age and weight divisions andeach race usually takes from five to seven minutes to
35 races.complete. Each indoor rowing event will have up to 35
Along the way, it has spawned a new type ofraces over the course of the day, allowing hundreds
competition that has swept the world. Every year,of athletes to compete with each other.
between November and February, there are indoorIn 2005, there were 50 indoor regattas in the United
rowing races in 31 different countries, in every state ofStates that attracted over 10,500 rowers. Worldwide,
the United States - and with the advent of the latestthere are 115 indoor rowing regattas in 31 countries.
model of the standard 'vehicle' of the indoor rowingThe grand-daddy of all races is the original CRASH-B
circuit, international indoor rowing meets heldSprints World Indoor Rowing Championships, which
completely over the Internet.attracted 1,934 competitors in 2005.
Concept 2 - The Indoor Rowing Machine of ChoiceThe Indoor Rowing season begins in November with
There are no boats in indoor rowing. Instead, racersthe BIRC - The British Indoor Rowing held in
row on Concept 2 ergometers set up in lanes whileBirmingham, England. The BIRC boasted over 3,000
their progress is tracked by the on board odometer inentrants in 2005, making it the world's biggest indoor
each machine. The Concept 2 Model D - the officialrowing race, and Britain's largest mass participation
'vehicle' of the indoor rowing circuit - is even equippedsporting event. Among the races that are held
with an onboard unit that uploads speed, pace andbetween November and the World Sprints in Boston
results to a computer, which is how the races areare 20 official satellite races. The top four finishers in
officiated.each satellite race qualify for entry in the CRASH-B,
Each rower fixes his attention on the small screen onalong with a free trip to Boston to participate.
his machine that tracks his pace and his position.But for all its international flavor, competitive indoor
Seated on a chair behind the racer, his or her personalrowing is a neighborly activity. Across the country and
coxswain calls out his distance, shouts encouragementthroughout the world, local health clubs and rowing
and helps keep the focus on the race - and the noiseclubs and university crews hold Indoor Row-a-thons
and excitement level high. A large screen lets thefor charity, or sponsor classes for youth and seniors to
audience watch the action as tiny, stylized boats sprintencourage fitness and socialization. It's all part of the
across a field of blue toward the finish line so that theysport - and fits well with the philosophy of Concept 2's
can add their cheers and shouts to the hum and droneowners, who encourage the philanthropy by supporting
of 20 or more ergometers racing in place to be thenearly any event of which they're aware.
first to reach 2000 meters.Indoor Rowing Records Meet Personal Best
Rowing has long been regarded as one of the bestAsk any competitor and they'll tell you that there's
exercises for maintaining full body fitness. As early asnothing that compares with indoor rowing as a sport.
1856, YMCA equipment included machines thatThe closest parallel is marathon running, with the pain
simulated the motions of rowing a boat through water.and the triumph, the endurance and the satisfaction of
Those rowing machines were little more thansetting your own personal best time and finishing the
stationary 'boats' with oars that used pistons, springs orrace is at least as important as hanging a shiny medal
some other method to simulate the resistance ofaround your neck. In indoor rowing, you don't have to
pulling against water. That basic design remainedwin to be a winner. The thrill is in the doing.
relatively unchanged until 1981, when Concept 2