2022 Indoor rowing championships AIRC

In a foreshadowing of the state of the head race season, it was a welcome return to erging in-person at the shed for AIRCs this year.

Richmond posted up 35 entries from 18 athletes from age brackets ranging from 19-29 up to 75-79.

first place
Helen Pearce, 40-49W, 500m, 1:30.8
Kate Dyball, 30-39WL, 500m, 1:38.9
Alex Silber, 75-79M, 500m, 1:40.9
Helen Pearce, 40-49W, 2000m, 6:54.7
Kate Dyball, 30-39WL, 2000m, 7:09.1
Helen Pearce, 40-49W, 1000m, 3:20.1
Kate Dyball, 30-39WL, 1000m, 3:30.4
Lily Innes-Irons, 19-29W, 1000m, 3:31.7
Alex Silber, 75-79M, 1000m, 3:44.8
Anthea Amos, 65-69W, 1000m, 4:31.8

second place
Geraldine Goss, 60-64W, 500m, 1:46.9
RRC relay, 19-39W, 2000m, 6:37.4
Ben Wardle, 19-29M, 2000m, 6:32.4
Jack Hellerstedt, 30-39ML, 2000m, 7:03.5
Kirsty Fergie, 30-39W, 2000m, 7:31.1
Kirsty Fergie, 30-39W, 1000m, 3:36.4
Geraldine Goss, 60-64W, 1000m, 3:51.7

Third place
Pavel Oborin, 30-39ML, 2000m, 7:32.8
Alex Pupko, 19-29M, 1000m, 3:06.9
Jack Hellerstedt, 30-39ML, 1000m, 3:25.1
Caley Manzie, 19-29W, 1000m, 3:36.4
Philip Munson, 65-69M, 1000m, 3:39.2

With a total of 316 points amassed, RRC took third overall in club standings behind Gippsland Grammar (353) and Sunshine Coast Indoor Rowing Club (348).

Big thanks to Helen for being the mastermind of the event, and hostess extraordinaire while sweeping her events, Will for entries & IT architecture, and Ally, Richie, Emily, Sean, Alex, for running the ergos throughout the day.

link to album





2021 Australian Indoor Rowing Championships

Richmond fielded 13 men & 6 women competing in 34 races across 14 different age & distance categories in the AIRC championship held on 30 October 2021.

Celebrating our AIRC winners on the balcony after the Melbourne Head regatta

Congratulations to our medallists:

Gold

Teoni Jugg, WL 30-39 2km
Chelsea Crouser, WL 19-29 1km
Will Golding, ML 19-29 1km
Teoni Jugg, WL 30-39 1km

Silver

Chelsea Crouser, WL 19-29 2km
Will Golding, ML 19-29 2km
Gerry Goss, W 55-59 1k
Alex Huang, WL 19-29 1km
Golding/ Wardle/ Gehling/ Carey, M 20-39 2km relay
Fergie/ Crouser/ Kinsman/ Huang, W 20-39 2km relay

Bronze

Alex Huang, WL 19-29 2km
Pavel Oborin, ML 30-39 1km
Chelsea Crouser, WL 19-29 500m
Gerry Goss, W 55-59 500m

Honorable mentions:

The ‘Presidents’ mixed relay team came in third on the day, only to be relegated to fourth when late results came in.

“zoom erg” session with coaches Will Golding and Dario Sportelli

Thoughts from the day:

Following the dramatic storms, no power and no internet my day started a lot less smoothly than I would have liked. However once on the erg, sat in my spare room, zoom squad cheering and my playlist on, I was ready for the day of racing. Despite not hitting any PBs it was a great way to round off some intense lockdown training and a celebration of all things erg before being able to get back into what we do best, on water training.

Kirsty F.
Pavel Oberin receiving his bronze AIRC medal from Kathy Macrow

Highlights were definitely the ​​mortadella/ stracciatella/ giardiniera sandwich from Bread Club between the 2k and 1k, and chatting with Amy on an inbound train dialing in to zoom to see the flattering erging faces. Staying within a couple strokes of fellow skinny ergo Pavel for the 1k & 500m made those races a lot more fun. Absolutely hit a wall and couldn’t stand anymore after 5pm, very satisfying way to finish off the ergsclusive lockdown no. 6.

Jack H.

I had big plans ahead of this event! After arriving back in the country 3 weeks before raceday, I expected that a rental erg, plus 14 days mandatory hotel quarantine should put me on track for some good results. Covid had other ideas, with a positive test result landing me in a special care hotel with a sore head and without access to any exercise equipment! 2 weeks later, I was released after a negative result and began ramping up my training  for the final week. (What is taper anyway?!) Race day arrived and I felt pretty good all things considered. Luckily, I was only doing the 500 and the 1k. Managed to hit both with PBs and looking forward to next year, when I hope my prep will be better!

Phil Saxena

It was very strange to be competing in a national competition from the bottom of my back yard! I wasn’t sure that the internet signal would support both the erg and a zoom, and even less sure anyone would want to see me cranking out an erg, but it was great to know that people were following the races! My secret erg playlist for competition is just two songs: Start me up by the Rolling Stones and Don’t stop me now by Queen. And Archie the wonder dog lay on the outdoor lounge and slept through the whole thing.

Gerry

Great Performance by RRC at AIRC 2020

Sunday 25th October saw a large turn out of Richmond rowers at the Australian Indoor Rowing Championships. Certainly not our usual kind of regatta however after so many weeks in lockdown any competition was welcome.

Throughout the preceding weeks we had been training hard on zoom with the ever motivating coaches Dario Sportelli and Will Golding. Having built the 4 sessions per fortnight into our working from home schedules it was great to catch up with other club members so frequently and still be able to train as a team. In the lead up to the event we all had our software updated, internet connections tested, AB cables at the ready and our ergos cleaned and prepped.

We started the day itself off with a yoga session from Gerry, which was a perfect way to ease into the day, settle the nerves, keep time moving on and ‘be present’ for our races.

It was certainly a different atmosphere to what we are used to, being alone in our houses getting race ready but another thank you to all that logged on to the zoom channel to offer their support.

First up were our coaches themselves, Dario and Will competing in the 19 -29 Men’s 2000m (Will in lightweight). Dario came away with a silver and Will a gold – setting the tone for the day.

At 11am it was the turn of the girls 2000m. Playlists at the ready and we were off, the 2k plans were in place we knew what we had to do. Despite feeling prepared we went through the whole 2k rollercoaster, yeah I’ve got this, keep pushing, when is this going to end, what the heck, can I just stop?, why are we doing this, stay strong, only 300m left, let’s go!

And the PBs and medals came rolling in.

Congratulations to all the competitors and medal winners

Chelsea Crouser 19-29 2k Lightweight – Gold

Xanthe Hadfield 19-29 2k – Gold

Kirsty Fergie 30-39 2k – Bronze

Sarah Hardy 50-54 2k – New PB

Geraldine Goss 54-59 2k

Phil Munson 65-59 2k

And a special mention to Helen Pearce 40-49 2k – Gold plus a new Australian Record.

And as if that wasn’t enough a short recovery time and (for what seemed like a good idea at the time to do both) it was the 1000m

Alex Kinsman 19-29 1k – Silver

Kirsty Fergie 30-39 1k – Bronze

Helen Pearce 40-49 1k – Gold

Cynthia Masters 55-59 1k – Silver

Michael Gehling 30-39 1k – New PB

Pavel Obrin 30-39LW 1k – New PB

Campbell Mayne 19-29 1k

Then on to the 500m

Xanthe Hadfield 19-29

Geraldine Goss 54-59

Finally, to end the day the 2000m relay where Richmond picked up

Richmond Women – Ainsley Raggatt, Xanthe Hadfield, Chelsea Crouser, Kirsty Fergie 19 – 39 2k Silver

Richmond Women – Susanna Mullner, Sarah Hardy, Geraldine Goss, Helen Pearce 40+ 2k Silver

Richmond Men – John Carey, Will Golding, Dario Sportelli and Michael Gehling 19 – 39 2k

Richmond Mixed – Pavel Oborin, Campbell Mayne, Alex Kinsman, Amy Catlin 19-39 2k Gold

We ended the evening with a zoom call to raise a glass to ourselves and congratulate each other on what was an intense but rewarding period of training. A big thank you must go to Dario and Will for their ongoing encouragement and dedication to the coaching sessions, and to the club for loaning out the ergos to give us the opportunity to train. We hope our new found strength can be put into good use on the water and look forward to the next time we will be able to race. Go tigers!

Kirsty Fergie