2011 Crash B’s Race Repost- February 19, 2012 This Year’s Race!!

On Sunday, February 20 at 0940, myself, Tim, Joe, and Sean got comfortable on our assigned Ergs. Roger and Bob went off in another heat just prior to ours. Chris and Mark were there urging us on. We all have been training for this day since about December with anywhere from 2-4 session per week. This is the World Indoor Rowing Championships or the CrashB’s as they are know. Roger Gocking clocked a 1st place in his age and weight division with a time of 7:06. Roger is 65 and managed to beat or tie all of us with the exception of Joe. Roger placed 3rd place in last years Crash B’s. All of us have competed against Roger on the water. Roger has won numerous races in New England. I have been urging Roger to move up to a faster boat and he told Chris and I he pulled the trigger. His Mohican is being built as we speak. What this means for most us is that Roger will be all but untouchable in the flatwater races. With Roger’s incredible endurance and speed coupled with perhaps the best flatwater boat there is, we are expecting even faster times from Roger. Bob Capellini who won the Endurance Award in last year’s SurfskiRacing Race Series competed in his first Crash B’s. Bob had an excellent time having only trained about a month.

Sean Milano, putting his time on the erg with his training partner Langdon at a local Boston gym most mornings, beat his time of last year by a 2 seconds. Two seconds may not sound like much but on the Erg, 2 seconds is magnified in the event that last only 6:30 to 7:30 for alot of us. This is significant also knowing that as we all get older, you are able to beat your previous time.

Tim Dwyer clocked a 7:12 and got what he put in as far as his training. Tim always manages to get just alittle more out of his training whether on the water or on the erg.

Joe Glickman, was only slightly off the pace of last year pace. Joe pulled a 6:37 with a very fast last 500 meters.

Chris, who has more erg time than any of us, while he could not compete yesterday, clocked a 6:46 last year, and currently ranks 36th of 633 in the 10,000 meters in his age class. To show how fast Chris is, his 10k pace (1.51.6) is virtually the same as my 2k time, amazing! For all of us this is a group effort in alot of ways. Chris was my coxswain yesterday. He stands or sits directly behind me during the event and acts as part cheerleader and part coach. Having a coxswain helps in a big way and especially one that knows about form and pacing. Joe and Roger traded places in their respected heats while Mark helped Bob out in his heat. My fastest 500 meters was my last urged on by Chris. No doubt I would have drop a few seconds that last 500 meters because it is so easy to give in with my heart rate at 175 and the lactic acid in my forearms saying STOP, STOP. But that is why the coxswains are there to help us push through this. I clocked a 7:21 just a second off last years time. Four years ago, I will never forgot, the young girl who was my official coxswain if you do not bring your on. They are really there to record your time but will step in as the coxswain if you want them to. This particular one happened to be the “real coxswain” for one of the local college rowing teams. She was great. I can still her screaming with 1 minute to go, ” You can do anything for a minute, Anything!!” She then began to count off the 30 strokes I needed to finish the last minute.

Though not part of our group, I ran into Ed McCabe of the Hull Life Saving Museum. I thought I would not see Ed until March 12 at the Snow Row where Ed is the race director. Ed turned in a very good time for his heat as well. The Snow Row if a great little race, only 3.6 miles but is on a triangular course and mixes it up with all types of rowing vessels. Often it is cold and windy but occasionally it can be warm and flat like last year. It begins the SurfskiRacing.com Race Series so I hope to see everyone there. Yes, it early in the season, but there is no better place go it going for another enjoyable racing season!