Concept2 Forum

A crazy twist in this year's crossfit games. Atheletes had to race to 2,000M as one score, then continue on for a half marathon without stopping after the first 2K.

Female winning times:
2k - 7:17
Half - 1:27:47

Men winning times:
2k - 6:21
Half - 1:18:02

Who were they and had they been rowers in the past? Either ergs or OTW? Very nice times for non specialists,

Here is the link to the CrossFit event.

http://games.crossfit.com/article/rows-and-rows

Bill

They were on Concept2 rowers. Both people who won were not rowers to my knowledge The men's winner was 5'9". He then went on to clean and jerk 335lbs in another event.
The women's winner may have a gymnastics background.

The women's rowing winner, Sam Briggs, went on to win the whole thing.

And Rich Froning (2nd in the 2K) captured his 3rd overall title in a row. Amazingly strong. Also these folks are open age groupers. I don't believe any Masters competitors had rowing events. By the pictures, forms left a lot to be desired (from a OTW perspective) but seemed to get the job done, which is often the case in Crash Bs too.

The more I read and the more I see here - erg rowing doesn't necessarily have quite the same skill requirements as OTW. Good form is good form overall but with no oars to catch and no partners to have to stay in sync with - some things can be done differently without the same consequences. It still comes down to being strong and in good shape for the activity.

climber511 wrote:The more I read and the more I see here - erg rowing doesn't necessarily have quite the same skill requirements as OTW. Good form is good form overall but with no oars to catch and no partners to have to stay in sync with - some things can be done differently without the same consequences. It still comes down to being strong and in good shape for the activity.

100%. They have videos of the rowing and the form is pretty bad, even for the people who performed well. OTW rowing is a completely different skill set. Many national teams assume good form to rely on erg scores for early candidate reviews. I wonder if some people who are very fast OTW are getting passed by because their erg is not on par with people like above.

sprfrkr wrote:

climber511 wrote:The more I read and the more I see here - erg rowing doesn't necessarily have quite the same skill requirements as OTW. Good form is good form overall but with no oars to catch and no partners to have to stay in sync with - some things can be done differently without the same consequences. It still comes down to being strong and in good shape for the activity.

100%. They have videos of the rowing and the form is pretty bad, even for the people who performed well. OTW rowing is a completely different skill set. Many national teams assume good form to rely on erg scores for early candidate reviews. I wonder if some people who are very fast OTW are getting passed by because their erg is not on par with people like above.

To be fast OTW, you indeed need good watertechnique, but you also need power and endurance. So fast rowers who really try at erging will be fast on the erg. The other way around is certainly not true, although some boats need less technique. But some (otw)erg monsters never really make it otw.