News

Fancy a job in rowing?

London Youth Rowing have 2 new posts coming on stream in September as part of the Row East London Programme:

Please download the job descriptions for more details.

Laura Rows a Charity Coastal Challenge

Laura Loudon-Griffiths rowed from Start Point all the way back to her home port of Sidmouth for the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) Coastal Challenge on June 8th 2008. Laura was inspired to take up the MCS Coastal Challenge by the terrible scenes from the Napoli ship, which left huge quantities of rubbish on Devon’s beautiful beaches last year. Laura is raising funds for the vital work of the Marine Conservation Society, the UK Charity which is celebrating 25 years of groundbreaking work to protect sealife this year.

“With a life spent by the sea, you realise the importance of keeping it healthy, hence my support of MCS”, says Laura. “My challenge was difficult - I started at Beesands, just inside Start Point. Twelve hours of constant paddling later I arrived to a fantastic reception by family and friends. Rowing is a wonderful way of seeing the coastline, the birds and appreciating the splendour of the sea itself.”

Laura’s row is part of the MCS Coastal Challenge, which hopes to have enough people taking part to have covered the entire distance around the beautiful UK coastline; 18,470km (11,477 miles) and to have raised vital funds towards their conservation work. Laura would like to thank her family and friends for supporting her, (including one very patient friend in his yacht, tearing his hair out trying at times to travel at one knot!) and Concept II for giving her a rowing machine to train on for this epic challenge.

You too can help MCS make a positive change for our seas by joining their ambitious fundraising initiative “Coastal Challenge”. Any kind of sponsored event that covers distance qualifies as a Coastal Challenge event, so whether you want to run a marathon or cycle to work every Wednesday you can make those miles really count!

Call or email today and request your free fundraising pack from MCS on 01989 561587 (or katherine.stephenson@mcsuk.org). Every supporter who raises £100 gets a fantastic free ‘MCS Champion’ t-shirt – visit our website www.mcsuk.org for more information and updates. Ends

Contact:
Laura Loudon-Griffiths, Coastal Challenger Email: Tomgriffiths@rockcottage.co.uk Katherine Stephenson, MCS Fundraising Coordinator Tel: 01989 561587 | Email: Katherine.Stephenson@mcsuk.org

Just what the doctor oared

By day she prescribes medicine and diagnoses diseases of children as a pediatrician for Kaiser Permanente in Roseville. But after working hours, Sue Hooten is an athlete extraordinaire.

So extraordinary that she recently was named world champion (in the 55 to 60-year-old category) at the World Indoor Rowing Championships held in Boston. She also shattered the world record by completing 2,000 meters in 7 minutes, 23.7 seconds.

Although she prefers to do her rowing outdoors in actual water, Hooten, a Granite Bay resident, said the Concept2 Model D Ergonometer rowing machines she practices on and used for the world competition, simulate the real thing most accurately.

Read the full story at http://www.granitebaypt.com/detail/87331.html

Mallory Park Row Triathlon 2008

The Junior race kicked off the once again in this year’s Mallory Park Rowathlon and saw Paul Peasegood from Harris School build a slight lead in the 1000m row. Aaron Figuerola of BCAT was hot on his heels and the pair looked evenly matched as they lapped the 2k bike course at around 3:40 per lap. Unfortunately disaster struck for Paul as he crashed towards the end of the final lap, but Aaron went on to complete the fastest run leg of the day and take the overall title, four minutes clear of second placed Sam Carlisle (Harris School). Paul picked himself up bravely following his crash and completed the course to take third place.

Charlotte Hughes of BCAT was a comfortable winner in the Female Junior race with a solid all round performance and a special mention for Isobel Hughes, also of BCAT, who completed the course well, despite being just 9 years old.

In the Senior Male race, James Hart of DB Max Tri, was fastest man over the 2.5k row, but Nick Wyatt, Lee Rankin, Adam Gitlin and Ian Lewis were all hot on his heels. Last year’s series winner Lee Rankin (DB Max Tri), produced the fastest bike split of the day (lapping at around 3:05 per lap), followed by the fastest run split too, winning the race by just over 2 minutes. Adam Gitlin of Plymouth Amateur Rowing Club, showed he can bike and run too and took second place ahead of Nicholas Wyatt in third.

The Vet Male race saw the return of the impressive M Vet50 athlete James Dickinson of One Life Racing who looked a strong favourite, but would the M Vet40 athletes Steve Hacking (DB Max Tri) or Nigel Arlidge (WBC) be able to give him a run for his money. As it turned out, James produced the fastest individual row, bike and run splits of the race and took the title a little under three minutes clear of Steve. As well as the M Vet50 title, James’ finish time of 1:02:42 was good enough to give him second place in the overall men’s title as well!

The female race saw James’s wife Sally Dickinson show that anything her husband could do, she could do better, as she took the F Vet40 and overall female titles, almost four minutes clear of the field. Sally was fastest over all three disciplines, beating Helen Trees into second place and Anne Yates of Lyonheart Sports into third. Anne also took the F Vet50 title with her finish time of 1:25:38.

The only other battle to settle was the fastest bike lap challenge. Eighth placed overall finisher Matthew Griffiths was fastest man with a 2k bike lap time of 3:03.83 and Sally Dickinson was fastest woman with a 3:33.62 lap. The electronic transponders will be back in 2009 so it looks like the fastest bike lap challenge will be a regular ‘race within a race’ at the Mallory Park Rowathlon.

100K Records Set For Charity

Two new individual 100K British records were set last weekend by Neil Turner and David Plumb, both members of the Free Spirits team.

The row took place at the Virgin Active health club in Chigwell, Essex and raised upwards of £2000 for McMillan Nurses and a local hospice - St Francis Hospice Havering. Neil set up the event to raise funds for the two charities who helped his colleague Russ who died of cancer last year.

David completed the distance in 8:00:56 setting a new record for the 40-49 Lwt category and Neil finished just under an hour later setting the mark for the 30-39 Lwt category at 8:56:35.

Concept2 help riders prepare for the forthcoming Olympics

Ruth Edge at Belton Horse Trials 2008

We are extremely grateful to Concept2 for their help in preparing the riders for the forthcoming Olympics. Hong Kong will be a particularly physically demanding environment and so we were looking to instigate programs with our riders that were a minimal disruption to their already hectic lives. The rowers have been the ideal solution for some of our riders: the machine is small and portable and really easy to use so they have been put to use at home, in stables or even taken with them on their lorries!

Most importantly, the seated position and technique involved in indoor rowing is biomechanically similar to riding and therefore works some of the specific muscle groups involved. I would recommend a C2 rower to any rider looking to improve their fitness. We have recently taken a closer look at rider fitness and it has become an important part of our preparations.

Riders such as William Fox Pitt, Daisy Dick, Polly Stockton and Ruth Edge have all been benefitting from the C2’s and we hope to build on this success beyond the Olympics towards London 2012.

Jon Pitts, a Sports Scientist is currently working with Team GB riders from the Show jumping, Eventing and Dressage disciplines as well as the Paralympic riders. His “Fit to Ride” philosophy specifically targets the physical and fundamental requirements for horse riding, focussing on balance, coordination and reaction. For further information on “Fit to Ride” and Jon’s work please visit www.fittoride.co.uk or www.m8group.net.