Misery, as they say, loves company. Beginning this year, the U.S. Marine Corps will incorporate a 5k erg test into their annual fitness evaluations. The erg option is being offered as an alternative measure for older service members who, due to injuries, may not be able complete the traditional 3-mile run. According to published standards, men between 46 and 50 will have to pull a minimum of 25:40, while women in that same category are required to turn in at least a 28:30. Along with the run or row, the annual physical evaluation includes pull-ups, crunches, and a combat fitness test.
Robert Spenger, 1924-2017
A quick query of indoor rowing world records on the Concept2 website shows just how prolific Robert Spenger was on the machine: 37 records in the 80-89 and 90-99 age categories, including a new 6k mark of 28:58.8 set last year. But Spenger, who passed away in January at 92, had achievements that went far beyond the erg. A former University of California, Berkeley varsity oarsman, Spenger was an avid climber and hiker, the latter an activity he pursued after retiring from a longtime faculty position at California State University in Fullerton.
Dad Vail Regatta to hold Inaugural Alumni Challenge
Philadelphia, PA – The Dad Vail Regatta Organizing Committee is pleased to announce the introduction of the Alumni Challenge as part of the 79th annual Dad Vail Regatta presented by the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson Hospital, which will be held on Friday May 12 and Saturday May 13.
The 500-meter competition for eight oared shells will take place on Saturday May 13 between the morning and afternoon session. The races will feature men and women’s divisions with Gold, Silver and Bronze Medals presented to the top three finishers in their respective categories.
“Rowing is a lifetime sport,” said Jim Hanna, President of the Dad Vail Regatta Organizing Committee. “We are delighted to provide alumni rowers an opportunity to compete in a fun yet competitive environment in America’s largest collegiate regatta.”
To register or for more information regarding an innovative way to re-connect with old teammates along with a chance to re-live past glory, contact Kirsten Morasco at kirstenmorasco@klmconsult.com.
Choose Your Challenge
The Internet is the great equalizer. During the winter months, when the idea of rowing on the water seems months away, rowers can compete against opponents from all over the world in challenges ranging from holiday fundraisers to international ergathons.
Concept2 has pioneered erg challenges since 2000, shortly after its online logbook debuted in 1999. On March 15, the manufacturer’s World Erg Challenge begins as groups from all over the globe enter to rack up the most meters during a one-month span.
“Overall, we try and make the challenges fun and cover a range of things, so that they don’t all require a lot of effort,” said Concept2’s David Hart. “These are really popular and the camaraderie and competitive element provide lots of motivation for people.”
The data backs it up. Hart said over 10,000 people participated in the company’s Holiday Challenge in 2016, with more than 70 percent rowing more than 100,000 meters each. Concept2 now offers challenges throughout the calendar year at different distances, including full and half marathons in May.
In 2017, the World Erg Challenge will try to surpass the 274 teams and 3,578 athletes who competed in last year’s competition, which was co-sponsored by World Rowing and saw 25 individuals erg more than a million meters.
By participating in challenges, even those run online, athletes can set goals for themselves, which numerous studies have shown helps with athletic performance, so long as those goals are specific and measurable. A 2013 study from the Association for Psychological Science said that people like being able to compare themselves with others, and demographic factors affect their buy-in in competitions. In most challenges, Concept2 sets a target for everyone to achieve, but the World Erg Challenge is focused on who can go the furthest in 31 days.
Additionally, the World Rowing Indoor Sprints offer racers a chance to put their best 1,000-meter time up against anyone else between March 10 and 12. The top three finishers in gender, weight, and age categories receive medals. More information on erg challenges is available on Concept2’s website.
R.I.P, Light Four
It’s hard not to see FISA’s decision to end lightweight sweep events at the Olympics through anything other than my own biased perspective, given I spent the majority of my national team career in—or trying to get into—the light four.
It was a confounding boat class; more technical than a small boat and at times as fast as an eight. Its most advanced practitioners—the Swiss, the French, and, of course, The Danish—put on a clinic every time they took to the water and our sport was better off for it. To this day, I’m in awe of what went on in that event.
But times, and tastes, change. And when it came to choosing between long-overdue gender parity and preserving an event that, however exciting, failed to meaningfully increase universality, the decision was clear.
Many didn’t see it that way. In the days that followed the FISA Extraordinary Congress, my Facebook feed was overrun with posts decrying all that was lost with the decision. None, however, considered what was gained.
For one, the change likely strengthened rowing’s position in the eyes of the International Olympic committee, which in the Agenda 2020 era, is a good thing. But more importantly, there are now four additional seats for women’s sweep.
I think back to what it was like when I learned that lightweights could race at the Olympics, and I can’t help but feel there are athletes out there who look at the increased opportunity in the same way.
As for lightweight sweep, I am less hopeful. It’s hard to argue we’re better off today than before the start of this Olympic experiment. But traditions run deep in this sport, and like the women’s four, there’s no ruling out a comeback.
Get with the Program
Of all the options on the table, this was probably the one most of us expected. Under increasing pressure from the International Olympic Committee to align the sport with its Agenda 2020 strategic plan, FISA made the decision at this year’s Extraordinary Congress Feb. 9-12 in Tokyo to remove the men’s lightweight four from the Olympic program, replacing it with the women’s straight four. Additionally, para-rowing events will now be 2,000 meters, as opposed to 1,000 meters, at World Rowing events and the Paralympic Games.
The moves accomplish two very important things for the sport: gender equality and inclusion. But while these changes are necessary, they come at the cost of one of rowing’s most beloved—and hotly-contested—events. The decision to eliminate the light four, shortly after the removal of the men’s lightweight eight from the world rowing championships (the latter due to low subscription numbers over the past several years), has spelled the demise of lightweight sweep rowing at the Olympic Games, and likely means a diminished place for lightweight sweep rowing at the elite level more generally as rowing federations prioritize Olympic events.
“In terms of gender equality, that’s great—that’s where we should be heading,” says 2016 Olympian and now USRowing Interim President Meghan O’Leary. “That’s progress. It’s a leading principle behind Agenda 2020, and for rowing to step up and want to make sure we align ourselves with that is important not only for the sport, but also to show that we agree with those values.”
Still, the question remains: In the changing landscape of Olympic sport, does this make rowing better—and more competitive with sports gaining traction in the Olympic Movement—in the long run? Or are more, and more significant, changes necessary to ensure the place of rowing in the Olympic Games?
“Rowing is one of the oldest [modern] Olympic sports and the hope is that we will continue to be a part of the Olympic program,” O’Leary says. “But the cultural appetite for sport has changed, and dramatically so, especially in the last 10-15 years.”
She continues: “The Olympics, the way it is now, with the television rights, and sponsorships, and partnerships, all the money that’s associated with it—it’s no secret that there has been a movement toward the Olympics as entertainment. So for sports to remain a part of the program, you’re seeing them have to make adjustments.”
Current Cal men’s head coach Mike Teti is in something of a unique position in the midst of all this. Teti coached the only U.S. men’s lightweight four to medal at the Olympics (a bronze in 1996), and his wife Kay Worthington of Canada won gold in the women’s four in Barcelona in 1992, the last time the event was raced in the Olympics.
“I’m in a no-win situation here,” Teti says with a laugh. “I tend to be a little more radical—I think one of the biggest problems with our sport is that we have all these events, and everyone competes in one event. What other sports, like swimming, have over us, they’re able to have multi-medalists. If it were me, I’d reduce the number of athletes and make everybody double up or triple up—some kind of derivative of that.”
In other words, Teti is looking for more of an outside-the-box approach.
“I think the thing that would fundamentally change rowing is if we had heroes in our sport. Look, we’re rowers, and we understand it, and we like watching it. But for the layperson?”
This is something that cuts against the grain of much of rowing’s selfless lore, but it also makes perfect sense.
“To me, I’m a sports fan, but during the Olympics there are events that I watch because they pique my interest. I don’t watch swimming, but now all of a sudden Katie Ledecky is going to win six medals, or Missy Franklin, or even the Winter Olympics is probably a better example. I’ve never skied in my life, and I don’t really know a lot of these sports, but then, wow, this person is going to win three medals in cross country skiing, or this person is going to win the downhill and the Super G—that’s what we don’t have.”
In fact, the superstar athletes are already there. Take Kimberly Crow Brennan, who won two medals in 2012 doubling up in the single and double (the only rowing athlete to race two events). And there are other examples. “I mean, look at [Hamish Bond] from the New Zealand pair, who jumps in the single and beats everybody,” Teti says. “It would be kind of cool—what if he rowed a pair, a single, a double, and a quad? He might win four medals.”
When the NBA decided to add the shot clock, and the three-point line, it wasn’t popular with basketball purists (in some cases, it’s still not popular.) But can it really be argued that the NBA isn’t much more compelling as a result? That the sport, while changed from its original form, is better for it?
The 2,000-meter, six-lane, straight course is nothing like the way the sport began, when Thames watermen started competing with each other for business and pride, as evidenced by the Doggett’s Coat and Badge race. Even now, outside of spring racing, there are head races of various lengths, featuring every boat class and many athletes competing across multiple events. In order for our sport to retain its place and influence within the Olympic movement as one of the founding sports of the modern Games, does some of this ingenuity—this willingness to experiment and try new things—need to filter up to the highest level?
Q&A with Andrew Triggs Hodge
Andrew Triggs Hodge has formally announced his retirement from rowing. Rowing News writer Connor Walters caught up with Triggs Hodge and asked a few questions about his career and the future. Look for our full story in the April issue of ROWING Magazine.
When did you decide that Rio would be the last race for you?
I had to rethink my approach to rowing at a fundamental level when I had to take a year off due to glandular fever recurrence. I did this to manage my expectations about Rio, moving my sights towards something I could achieve, I had to come to terms with not making the Olympics. To do this I forgot about Rio and started to action plans about a life after rowing, to plan around what else there is in life. This process laid bare the road to a full retirement. The only question was when — was it 2015 or could I fluke a last Olympics. I guess I got lucky!
What did it mean for you to go out on top, with gold in the 8+?
That eight was an incredible boat. A mix of some of the best guys in the team. They all had great attitudes, and while not the fastest in trials, we produced the essence of what makes rowing great. Team Work. It’s one of the best displays I’ve seen in the sport and I’m incredibly proud to have been part of this crew. The way we executed the final in Rio was the cherry on the top. A beautiful race, overflowing with passion and grit, but wonderfully contained within a process we’d worked on day in day out, sold ourselves to and critically believed in. It was a dream.
I read your post on Facebook announcing your retirement and I looked up the Tideway Tunnel you said you would be working on; what will your role be in this big project? How did you first get involved with this work?
I studied environmental science and water management at university, which reflects an upbringing in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales. And while I rower I’ve always had a to get back into this work. Tideway has given me this opportunity. My work here is focused and I have always had ambitions around creating something that will promote the benefits the tunnel brings to one of the most iconic rivers in the world. The tunnel will prevent millions of tons of untreated sewage entering the river each year. This will have a huge impact on the city and the way we interact this important part of our capital.
Your rowing career is remarkable, with three Olympic gold medals to your name. Was there a constant in your life or training that helped you succeed at the Olympics over and over again?
I always approached each session with the simple goal of being a little bit better, becoming an Olympic champion was never about being one. There are so many facets to rowing there is always something to work on. Achieving your best, in my opinion, doesn’t involve aiming for perfection, but just making what you do a little bit better, do this often enough and it’s surprising how good you can get. I believe it’s important to develop without the distracting pressure of the ‘result’ hanging over you. I think it’s why I’ve been able to enjoy the sport so much.
What’s the most unexpected thing that happened to you during your national team career–something that made you say, ‘Wow–I never thought that would happen.’?
I never thought I’d go to the Olympics when I was 21.
I never thought I’d become and Olympic champion when I was 24.
I never thought I’d know a good man at Cambridge.
For the rest, I’m too much of an optimist to worry about doubt.
