2001 British IRC Report
So yeah, that was pretty cool then. We had over 2,000 people compete on the day, another 6,000 through the doors, a fantastic day's racing and, for the first time, we managed to get on Grandstand, nestled alongside the 1:55 from Ascot.
Without doubt, the race that the audience was up for was the Men's Open Hwt. Racing in the event was most of the British National squad, including all of the coxless four world champions. The superstars, however, were undoubtedly the pairing of James Cracknell and Matthew Pinsent, and it was these two who bossed proceedings.
They both set off incredibly strongly, hitting 1:19 splits early on. After 1,200 metres Cracknell had established a bit of a lead, and he pushed strongly in the third 500 metres to try and make the gap too much for Pinsent to claw back.
Matthew: "I knew he was ahead by then and going away. I thought, I've just got to try and hang in there and hope it's not too much. With 500 to go, I thought I need to go now if I'm going to get back into it. With 300 to go, I thought try again. With 250 to go, I thought if I don't go now, I've got absolutely zero chance of winning it. So I just stuck it in there."
Matthew's comeback initially seemed too late, but as both men thundered towards the line, he seemed to find another gear, and as the dust settled, incredibly he'd snatched James' crown away from him by the barest margin available, a single tenth of a second, 5:47.5 versus 5:47.6. Although never one to take defeat lightly, James could at least take some positives from the experience.
"Matthew is known in the rowing world for his strength. Now everyone knows we're both good, we're a strong duo," he said.
"I'm pleased, but also frustrated. It was good news for the pair today, but now I'm going to have Matthew looking at his watch when I turn up for training saying: 'I see I'm here 0.1 seconds earlier than you . . .'
"That was the first time he's beaten me all year, but he hasn't won three Olympic gold medals for nothing. In front of the public, he just hung in there and blasted through at the end. I said beforehand: 'If he beats me, it'll be by 0.1 sec' but if we'd raced in private I would have beaten him. Definitely."
The Women's Open Hwt was equally as enthralling. The start saw British girl Katherine Grainger get off to a flyer, and at the halfway stage she'd set up a decent-sized lead. From then on, however, she was hunted down by the current world champion, Hurnet Dekkers from Holland, and the world record holder, New Zealand's Georgina Evers-Swindell. With 200 metres to go, Dekkers had taken the pole position and, try as she might, Katherine just couldn't keep Georgina from second place, being overtaken in the last couple of metres. Dekkers set a new championship record of 6:32.9.
There were no real surprises in the Lightweight events. For the Men, world record holder Eskild Ebbessen from Denmark brought home the bacon in 6:09.0. He was pushed hard, however, by the British record holder Tim Male, who finished with silver in 6:11.0. The Women's race was dominated by Helen Casey, who romped home in 7:05.8, well inside her own championship record, and comfortably ahead of Denmark's Juliane Elander.
The other big race of the day was the Men's 30-34 Hwt, and this lived up to all expectations. Lining up at the start were Nik Fleming and Chris Rushton, the only two non-rowers ever to go under six minutes, last year's winner Tony Larkman and former world champion Colin Greenaway. The race turned out to be a stone-cold classic. Fleming and Rushton matched each other inch for inch for the first 1,400 metres, before a slight wobble by Fleming allowed Rushton to get his nose cleanly in front for the first time. Then, with 500 metres to go, Tony Larkman made a huge surge that gobbled up the space between him and the two front- runners, and with 100 metres to go, he had overtaken Fleming and was closing fast on Rushton. Chris kept his cool, however, and finished equally strongly, crossing the line in 5:57.5, breaking the 5:58.1 set by Nik at the Nuneaton IRC for the title of fastest ever non- rower.
Amongst certain indoor rowers, there's an informal spread of categories known as the "Well 'Ard Middle Aged Men", and these races are always guaranteed to provide excitement. In the Men's 40-44 Hwt John Dixon, competing in his first championship, romped away with the title in 6:04.9, nearly nine seconds ahead of George Gillies in second place, breaking Andy Ripley's five year old British record in the process. Speaking of Andy Ripley, he maintained his awesome record. His 6:20.1 in the men's 50-54 Hwt resulted in the eighth gold for the former British Lion, who also saw his former team mate Roger Uttley improve on last year's performance by one place to take silver. Another great race was the Men's 45-49 Hwt, in which the first three places were covered by just seven-tenths of a second, Paul Flack coming out top in 6:22.3.
Graham Price of Newark RC made his mark on the day when he broke his own British record for 40-49 Lwt for the second time in two months, winning the 40-44 Lwt event in 6:22.1. Worthy of a special mention is David Hislop of The Forum Flyers. Not only did he win the 45- 49 Lwt category in 6:41.0, he then raced in the 45-49 Hwt category four hours later to finish 26th in 6:47.7.
In the Women's 50-54 Hwt, Anna Bailey narrowly failed to break her own world record, but she still sheared an amazing 53.6 seconds off the existing championship record, winning the event in 7:10.9. Also putting in good performances, were Shelagh Allen (60-69 Hwt), Paddy Rouse (70+ Hwt), Gillian Burrell (60-69 Lwt) and Mavis Surridge (70+ Lwt), who all added more gold medals to their collections. In Gillian's case, she's now won gold at the last five championships.
In the Junior Events, the big story was in the J18 Hwt, where Matt Langridge beat the old British and Championship record by exactly a second when he finished in 5:59.0. Matt, who won the single sculls at the Junior World Championships in Duisburg, is definitely a name for the future. Peter Fields, the man whose record Matt took, marked his return to the indoor rowing stage in fine style, winning the U23 Hwt event in 5:52.2, the third fastest time of the day and a new Championship record to boot. Also in a record-breaking mood was Lizzie Tatman in the Women's J18 Lwt, who demolished her own British record by over eight seconds, with 7:29.0.
It was the other end of the spectrum, however, which saw the only world record. The day's oldest competitor, John Hodgson broke his old 90-99 Lwt mark, to set a new time of 9:28.1.
The championship isn't about the headline-makers and the record-breakers though. It's about everybody who turns up, determined to give as good an account of themselves as possible. To that end, our real heroes are those who came and gave it their all. Such as the man who, having rowed himself into unconsciousness, had to have his wife sign his time for him. Unfortunately, she signed for a time several seconds slower than he actually did, which we hope didn't lead to too many arguments before we were able to change it. So to everybody who competed, whether you did six minutes or ten, whether you're a wily old veteran or a callow first-timer, thanks for turning up and making the event possible. And, hopefully, we'll see you all next year at the NIA on November 17th 2002.
