2012 Team GB Report
by Kimberley Naylor-Perrott, Team Managerpictures by Anne Yates
Team GB in their team Ts sponsored by The Pete Plan
The 31st World Indoor Rowing Championships in Boston were attended by 42 British Rowers, (some accompanied by family supporters), led by myself as Manager, Pete Marston as Coach, Paul Winton leading the 16 Royal Navy attendees, and Anne Yates capturing the trip as Team Photographer. The competition proved to be the most successful in medal terms for many years, bringing home 3 World Champions, 4 Silver and 2 Bronze medallists.
Many of the competitors had arrived on the preceding Wednesday and Thursday, giving them the opportunity to meet their team members and to attempt to acclimatise to conquer their jet lag before the race. Friday evening saw 18 of the team dine at the famous Cheesecake Factory – hard for the Lightweights! The butterflies began in earnest the following day during the team briefing. The team photo completed, (with the help of some banter from the Royal Navy lads), they moved onto the International Competitors’ lunch. Amidst wonderful hospitality and speeches from members of the CRASH-Bs Board and C2, old friends were reacquainted and new friends made.
So to race day! Our only Adaptive Rower Gus McKechnie made a great start in the first race of the day finishing 4th (of 14). The next race saw 4 GB racers in mixed categories all take medals! Shelagh Allen at 73 our oldest female competitor, won bronze (8:59.9) with Chris Hore, aged 71 took the silver medal in 8:02.6. Mike Wrenn (71) rowed a perfect race winning the World Title in 7:11.6. Finally Roger Bangay, Team GB’s oldest competitors, and a Lightweight, rowed with great commitment and was rewarded with the Hammer, winning in a time of 7:27.5.
The next race saw another medal winning performance taking the silver and a British Record taken by Marjorie Roome (60-64 Hwt) in 7:50.5. Jackie Hicks placed 5th (55-59 Hwt) in 8:02.2. Debbie Barber rowed courageously in the 50-54 Hwt in 7:43.4, also finishing in 5th. Suzanne Briggs (55-59 Lwt) a relative newcomer smashed her Personal Best to finish in 9th Place 8:39.8.
The following race saw the 6 female and male Lightweights in the 30 and 40 plus categories enter the fray. All put in solid performances, with Chris Venables finishing in 4th place in a time of 7:02.3, and Chris Wheatley placed 8th in 6:51.1. Caroline Joynson (8:44.9) and Jo Allsebrook (8:09.8) rowed their way to 12th and 10th places respectively.
Christina Nugent-Lee, who was returning to the World Champs after a break of a few years was not hopeful of a medal before racing, but stormed through in the final stages of the 40-49 Lwt to take the bronze medal and a new British Record in a time of 7:37.3! Meanwhile, Jen Howse, who had entered last year as a Heavyweight, but rowed this year as a Lightweight in the 30-39 category, was also not hopeful of a medal, based on previous times recorded by her competitors. During the race, Jen paced herself perfectly, sticking to her race plan to the tenth! With around 350 metres to go, she found herself lying in 2nd place, just 10 metres separating her from the World Title. As I uttered the words 'Let’s push for home' – to our mutual horror, Jen’s monitor went blank! I immediately shouted for help from the technical team, but Jen continued rowing in the hope that somehow her time was being recorded centrally. On being told that this was not the case, and that she should stop rowing, Jen naturally became distraught. Helped away from the machine by Husband Ian, this was a situation that none of the team had experienced before. It soon became clear that Jen had two options either to accept that she would not have a time recorded, or be given some time to recover and race again. Naturally, Jen needed time to think, but within a short time, she courageously decided to race again. As I frantically ran round after the organisers to reschedule Jen’s race time, members of Team GB comforted Jen back in the stands, simultaneously searching for gluten free food that Jen could consume before she raced again. More to follow later.
Meanwhile, whilst the aftermath of Jen’s race was being dealt with, the Men’s 50-54 was raced. Andy Sangster, who was also returning to the World stage after a few years, had a monumental battle, eventually taking the joint silver medal in an amazing time of 6:12.4, just 1 second behind the eventual winner! Steve Penberthy in the same event set himself a goal of rowing sub-7 and made it in 6:59.8 finishing in 17th position. Juggling the RN team and coxing, Paul Winton rowed a solid race finishing in 6:52.0 taking 10th place.
Next into the fray, and hoping for glory was Bill Wright in the 65-69 Hwt. While I was trying to sort out Jen’s re-row, Anne Yates put down her camera to cox Bill. Sadly, just over half way through the race, an old back injury reignited leaving Bill in agony and forced to withdraw.
In the following race, Dan Good (7:00.6) and Andy Hammond (6:32.6) both had good races in the Lightweight Open.
Next was Jen Howse’s re-row. Placed among the Junior Lightweight races, the GB Team gathered opposite Jen’s machine, most still disbelieving that Jen would have the energy to row again! Unfortunately, as a last minute entry, Jen’s machine had not been linked to the main screen, so the audience had no idea of the times Jen was pulling. Sticking to her original race plan, Jen looked stronger than she had in the first race. It became clear to the organisers, that with 500 metres to go, Jen was in with a chance of taking the title. With just a few hundred metres to go, Jen gradually brought her splits down from 1:50 to 1:47 as she made the sprint for the line. As Jen finished, the Commentator announced that Jen was the new World Champion, finishing in a time of 7:22.2, winning the 39-39 Lwt by 3 seconds! Tears followed, from Jen, myself and most of the Team who had willed her on. Back home, Facebook Rowers who had been watching the race, erupted with congratulatory messages, prompting Jon Goodall to conclude that Jen’s experience was straight out of a Hollywood Movie! Certainly, those who witnessed Jen’s amazing courage and physical strength will never forget the day she came back from a DNF to become World Indoor Rowing Champion!
A very short break followed before Jen’s Husband , Ian, had to compose himself from the roller coaster he had experienced with his wife. He went on to row a courageous race, finishing in 7:41.0 (55th) in the first heat of the 30-39 Hwt. Dave Speed, also in the same race rowed strong to finish in 7:15.5. (50th). Also in the same race but rowing in the Mens 40-49 Hwt, were 6 competitors from the Royal Navy. In the lead up to the CRASH-B’s mind games abounded as potential supremacy was sought. Stu Moss’s 14th place finish in a PB 6:28.8 achieved that supremacy in his debut 2k race. Jules Stevenson’s solid training saw him finish 24th in 6:34.3. Close behind was Royal Marine Shaun Hickson in 6 :38.4 (26th). Former Mr Plymouth - Collin Leiba finished in a time of 6:41.6 (30th) and Rory West in 6:42.8 to finish in 33rd place. Both of the latter managed back tweaks (more than a tweak in Rory’s case) leading up to the race. Despite suffering from a cold, Kev Anderson finished in 7:02.0. (52nd).
The next race saw 10 of Team GB enter the arena. On paper, it appeared that Paul (Butch) Buchanan and Stewart Wyllie would contest 3rd and 4th place. As the race panned out, with both rowers pushing hard, this is exactly how they finished – Paul taking the bronze in 6:12.3, with Stewart taking a creditable 4th place, in a time of 6:15.6. Also in this race was Team Coach (and coach to many of the podium finishers at CRASH-B’s) Pete Marston. Still not fully recovered from an inter-costal injury, he rowed courageously to finish in 17th place in a time of 6:29.6. The remaining competitors in this race, came from the RN squad. Arguably the best RN performance of the whole day came from James Thomson, finishing in 6th place in a time of 6:18.0. This was just reward for his commitment to a structured training regime balanced against a demanding job. Robert Brown finished 10th in the 6:19.4, remarkable as illness had affected his ability to train for 6 of the 10 weeks leading up to the competition. Shaun Gibbs posted a PB of 6:26.3 to finish in 14th place. Derek Powles, a regular and consistent performer at CRASH-Bs, finished 24th in a time of 6:40.8. Andy Campbell’s 6:48.9 (31st) was slightly ahead of WIRC debutant John Eales in 6:52.6 (36th) - a close battle between both Scottish based rowers.
The final races of the day were in the Mens Open Hwt. In the first heat, Chris Matthews, the most experienced 'on the water rower' within RN team, rowed an even paced 6:39.4. The final heat saw Adrian Long become the fastest rower on the day from the RN team, achieving a PB in 6:13.7. Renowned for his smooth stroke and consistent pacing, he narrowly missed becoming the fastest Team rower of the day.
Following the last race, the happy but exhausted team members put on their glad rags and headed out to Bricco's – an Italian restaurant in Boston. Organising a meal for 46 Brits was only possible with the considerable skills of Paul Winton (and his wife and daughter) who collected the money for the meal during the briefing, and even took note of meal choices!
During the meal, I summed up the day's performances, rewarding small trophies to Jen Howse (not surprisingly) for the 'Most Courageous Row' and 'Fastest Female in Team GB' with her time of 7:22.2 (2nd place Christina Nugent-Lee and 3rd place Debbie Barber). The 'Fastest Male' trophy went to Paul Buchanan for his time of 6:12.3 (with Andy Sangster narrowly coming second in 6:12.4 and Adrian Long 3rd in 6:13.7). The trophy for the 'Most Valued Player' went to Paul Winton, a worthy winner.
Mention in this report has been made of every team member who travelled the thousands of miles to participate, coped with jet lag and raced in the gladiatorial setting that is the CRASH-Bs. New friendships were sealed and old re-established with many promising to meet again at BIRC in a month’s time, and hopefully at next year's World Championships.