2007 British IRC Report
The 2007 British IRC took place on the 18th of November at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham. On a day of frankly quite miserable weather, the blood was warmed by some stirring racing, especially in the Junior categories.
The biggest race of the day, however, for most indoor rowing aficionados was the Men's Open Hwt. This saw three-times British champion Graham Benton line up against the cream of the British rowing squad in an attempt to not only retain his crown, not only go past Matthias Siejkowski's record of three BIRC titles, but, if rumours beforehand were to be believed, have a crack at Matthew Pinsent's British record in the process. Hoping to prevent him, were the likes of Matthew Langridge, Rick Egington, Andrew Triggs Hodge and Kieran West.
With suitable hype from the race commentators Nigel Mayglothling and Olympic legend Martin Cross, nerves were stretched suitable taut, and it took two false starts before the race could get away. Once the race was underway, Benton settled into his straps with his trademark 1:11 starting strokes. By the halfway stage, he'd opened up a clear lead with Egington, the power man in the British eight, second and Triggs Hodge third. With 500 metres to go, it was clear that Benton had it in the bag. With the crowd roaring him on, and the big man splitting down in the 1:25s, the question was whether he'd be able to break Pinsent's British record. With 100m to go, and the crowd and commentator Martin Cross going crazy, Benton thundered home over the last few strokes to win in a time of 5:42.5. Some confusion on the race floor meant that it was announced that he had broken Matthew Pinsent's 19-29 Hwt record of 5:42.6; as a 34 year old, however, the time he had to beat was Pinsent's 5:42.3. He did, however, have the consolation of the new Open championship record, breaking Matthias Siejkowsi's 1999 time of 5:44.3. Behind him, Egington took second in 5:48.4, while Langridge emerged from the pack to take bronze with a 5:51.7.
The Men's Open Lwt race saw an intriguing battle between Britain's two leading lightweight rowers, Mark Hunter and Zac Purchase, who normally line up as Britain's world championship winning lightweight double. It was Purchase who got off to the quickest start, but he was never able to open up a working gap on Hunter and by 900m they were neck and neck. From then on, Hunter slowly opened up a bigger and bigger lead, winning in a time of 6:12.3. Purchase, who admitted to a bad day at the office, took silver with 6:19.7, while Bob Hewitt did well to take bronze in 6:23.5, just ahead of Chris Boddy.
In the Women's Open Hwt, Joanne Lyons improved on her silver medal last year to take the top spot this time around, winning in 6:52.6, with Emma Windham second in 7:00.9 and Lucinda Sanders third with 7:07.2. The Women's Open Lwt was won by Kelly Limond in a time of 7:28.8. The lightweight race of the day, however, was the J18 Lwt women where Eleanor Piggott's stunning row of 7:21.5 not only won gold but obliterated the championship and British record as well. Behind her, you had to feel sorry for Katherine Copeland, whose silver medal time of 7:23.5 also beat the old British record.
In fact, it was in the Junior events that some of the best racing took place. The most exciting race of the day was in the Women's J16, where Holly Holden and Emma Lindley were involved in a titanic tussle which, despite Emma really pouring her all into the last 100 metres, ended with a win for Holly by the smallest of margins: 7:27.2, against 7:27.3. For Junior events from J15 downwards, races are over set times, rather than 2,000m. In the Women's J15 race, Camilla Hadland prevailed by just three metres over the five minutes from Rosa Atkinson in second place, while Alicia Brown was just four metres better off than fellow Nottingham BC rower Katie Bartlett in the Women's J14. New records were set in the Women's J13 and J11, where Rowan Raynor and Robyn Armstrong won their three minute and two minute races in 811m and 493m respectively.
In the Men's Junior races, Matthew Rossiter won the J18 Hwt race in 6:07.9, while George Nash and Matthew Tarrant fought it out for silver and bronze, Nash just taking it by two-tenths of a second in 6:12.1. Just like the Women's J16, the Men's J16 saw a very close race with Sam Howell triumphing over James Fox in a time of 6:29.4 against 6:30.9. The only Men's Junior record came in the youngest category, as Gregory Blanchard set a new British and championship record with a time of 528m. There was a good win for James Davies in the Junior 13 race, in a distance of 870m; behind him Alex Matthew and Jasroop Bhogal tied for second with 848m each.
With a record number of Juniors entering, it's clear the future of the sport is in good hands. Not to be outdone, the senior categories threw up their fair share of excellent performances. Trusty war horse Nik Fleming won yet another major championship gold in the 35-39 Hwt race, with yet another sub-6 minute performance. The 30-34 Hwt race saw world champion canoeist Tim Brabants hit the front early and, despite some scepticism from the race commentators, he held on to win gold in a healthy time of 6:03.5, something he'll hopefully be able to repeat in Beijing next year. A tight race in the Men's 40-44 Hwt saw Julian Tomkinson beat last year's winner Michael O'Mahony, while in the 50-54 Hwt event, Ian McNuff won in a mighty time of 6:17.5, ahead of former BIRC champion Nigel Glover and former British Lion Steve Bainbridge, who took silver and bronze respectively. The 60-64 Hwt race saw one of the closest races of the day, with Finland's Seppo Peltola beating Peter Morley by just four-tenths of a second to win in 6:53.5. The oldest winner of the day was David Shepherd from Windsor Leisure Centre, who took the Men's 80-84 Hwt title in 8:51.1.
In the Men's Lwt races, Tim Male beat Mark Mitchell in the 30-34 Lwt race, winning in a time of 6:19.5. Toni Pyykoe was another Finn to take home gold in the 35-39 Lwt race, beating Neil Gear and Robert Smith to second and third place respectively. In the 40-44 Lwt, Stuart Bizzarri dominated from start to finish to win in an impressive time of 6:29.4. In the 45-49 Lwt category, John Brookes prevented everything going Finland's way, just beating Reijo Niemenmaa with a time of 6:39.9; Mouss Hammachi of France finished third on a cosmopolitan medal podium. In the 50-54 Lwt race, Emanuele Romoli of Italy beat Scotland's David Hislop in the final minutes, just as in the football the night before. In the 60-64 Lwt race, Jeffrey Watling just snuck ahead of Roger Prowse to the top spot with 7:01.8 against 7:02.7. A very impressive performance came from Hall of Famer Arnold Cooke, who won the 65-69 Lwt in 7:05.6. In the 70-74 Lwt, Roger Bangay beat former champion Geoffrey Knight while Roger Burrell beat Weston Towler in the 75-79 Lwt event. The bronze medallist in that category, Larry Franklin, was also notable for being one of three generations of Franklins to race that day, with son Peter and grandson Joe racing in the 45-49 Hwt and J11 events.
In the Women's senior races Natasha Smith won the 30-34 Hwt race in 7:05.6. The 35-39 Hwt race saw a good contest; Sally Pollok-Morris won in 7:19.6, while behind her Rachel Armstrong took silver in 7:22.1, just a tenth ahead of Marika Kivistow. Last year's 35-39 Hwt winner Megan Brown moved up an age category to take the 40-44 Hwt crown, while Gill Prescott was over a minute ahead of second place when she won the 50-54 Hwt race in a storming 7:18.8. The 60-64 Hwt was won by Brenda Ford, with Shelagh Allen winning another gold medal in the 65-69 Hwt. Shelagh moves up to 70-74 Hwt next year, and she'll undoubtedly be gunning for the British record in that category. Joesphine Timms completed the Women's Hwt winners when she took the 70-74 Hwt gold with 9:54.7.
The Women's 30-34 Lwt race was won by Kat Astley, with Shelley Wilkins second and Samantha Morris third. Christina Nugent-Lee continued her fine form, winning the 40-44 Lwt race in 7:31.6. There was a really good race in the 45-49 Lwt, as Carol Woodward just pipped Kelly Sapsford with a time of 7:50.3, half a second faster than Kelly. Anne Yates won the 50-54 Lwt race in 8:07.2, while Sue Little, one of the most consistent performers around, rowed another excellent race to win the 55-59 Lwt in 8:03.8. Geri Bright finished just outside her own championship record in winning the 60-64 Lwt event, while Gillian Burrell and Mavis Surridge won the 70-74 Lwt and 75-79 Lwt race in 9:36.8 and 9:36.9 respectively.
This year also saw the full introduction of Adaptive rowing, with Men's and Women's categories for LTA (Legs, Arms and Torso), TA (Torso and Arms only) and A (Arms only). The LTA categories raced over 2,000m and for the Men James Morgan won in 6:51.2, ahead of Alistair McKean and Matthew Pears, while for the Women, Naomi Riches beat Barbara Millns. The other two categories raced over 1,000m. Unfortunately, due to an administrative error, the machines were configured incorrectly, meaning that after approximately 750m, the race had to be stopped and the competitors race again. Despite this, most of the competitors were able to complete the race second time around. In a close Men's TA race, Mark Fosbrook won in a time of 3:42.6 with Patrick Mahoney second in 3:43.5 and James Roberts third in 3:47.5. The Women's TA race was won by Karen Comie, with Tracey Brown second. In the A races, Tom Aggar got gold in the Men's race, and Helene Raynsford got gold in the Women's. There were also Junior Adaptive races, with Callum Russell winning the Men's Junior LTA and Jordan Lloyd the Men's Junior TA. The Women's Junior LTA saw Megan John take gold with Emma Sullivan second and Bethan Roberts third. There was a return for the Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) rowers, with Robin Gibbons, Malcolm Robertson and Wayne Evans taking part in the Men's race and Sarah Stanwix in the Women's.
Apart from the Junior events, one of the other big growth areas of the championship is in the British University Student Association (BUSA) races. The Men's BUSA Hwt race saw a good fight, as Sam Townsend of Reading University beat the cream of Oxford's Boat Race crew to win in 5:53.6. William England from Oxford finished second, with Bill Lucas, also from Reading, squeaking in ahead of a number of Oxford rowers to take bronze. John Preston ensured Reading made a clean sweep of the Men's BUSA titles with a win in the lightweight race, finishing first in 6:23.7, just ahead of Newcastle's Nathan O'Reilly, who in turn was just ahead of Oxford's Henry Sheldon. In the Women's BUSA Hwt race, Francesa Jus-Burke of Loughborough just edged out Oxford's Andrea Pauli, winning in 6:57.0, with Pauli second in 6:58.3. Kristina Stiller, completed the medals with a bronze in 7:02.6. In the Women's BUSA Lwts, Lucy Aukett from Southampton University made up for last year's race where she recorded the fastest time but as a Bullpen entrant and so ineligible for a medal. This time she made no mistake, winning in 7:23.2. Nikki Bartlett was a second and a half faster than Natasha Newton in winning silver.
Overall, this year's event saw another great day of racing. With a growing number of teenagers coming into the sport, it's clear the future is a healthy one, while the older generations proved they still know how to put on a show. With a change in date for next year (see below), hopefully the 2008 event will build and improve on this year's success.
