USRowing Nationals--Atlantic City

[Yankeerunner]

Last Man Standing (or Erging)

How could I resist the first chance to row in a live in-person venue race in three years? I couldn't. Resistance is futile.

Atlantic City seemed like a tough place to get to, with no direct planes or trains from Boston, so driving seemed the best option. Unfortunately, a drive of about 7 hours didn't appeal to me any better than the roundabout travel that planes or trains or buses would have been and I seriously considered skipping this one. Enter Coach Theresa Welch, who found someone else looking to carpool and share expenses, and hooked us up. So after completing my Thursday morning erg workout with the rest of the crew at Community Rowing in Boston, Charlotte Pierce picked me up in her freshly tuned-up Volvo at 8 AM and we were off.

First off we had to get to know each other, and a long drive in a small car does the trick just fine. Luckily we didn't dislike each other and had a pleasant many hours on the road. Charlotte was going as the media partner of USRowing and would be doing livestream interviews for ReadyRowUSA.com with various rowing people at the Championships and the concurrent RowCon (USRowing Annual Convention). As with the erging, it was the first live conference in several years and a lot of people were looking forward to seeing someone in person instead of on a computer screen. When we pulled into the Convention Center the first order of business was to unload her equipment and lug it up to the third floor where she would set up outside of conference room #301. That done, we checked into the adjacent hotel, where I landed in the Neva Jane Langley room (the Sheraton is apparently the home of the Miss America contest and Miss America stuff was everywhere. Miss Langley was Miss American 1953 and a large framed photo of her adorned the wall). Personal belongings were spread out on available surfaces, then we walked to the nearby Tun Restaurant for dinner. The double-stacked 'One Tun' cheeseburger sounded like a good choice, so that's what I had.

Friday was a day of trying to get the broadcast equipment working properly, lining up guests, and me generally standing around being prepared for whatever might happen. After a couple of interviews with vendors, Charlotte had some dead time and decided to fill it with me. My interview is now forever on youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qU-m3rHAjc&t=8s
After chatting awhile, I scored a major coup by stalking three-time Olympic Coxswain Mary Whipple and turning on my oft-misunderstood charm to talk her into being a guest once she finished up her seminar on how coaches can get people into coxing. A useful topic for sure, since I've discovered how difficult it is to find a cox after taking up OTW rowing four years ago. We all want to row, dammit, not cox! I think I'm going to have to pay my dues in the stern when our crew returns to the water in March. I need to channel Mary Whipple. C2 was there in the persons of Meredith on the 3rd floor with oar handles and blades, and Lisa, Andy and Linda on the 2nd floor with a SkiErg and BikeErg. Later I bumped into Coach Brook and Maurice Scott of DC's Athletes Without Limits, with whom I'd rowed at the San Diego Crew Classic last March. Then coaches and administrators from my own CRI, Ellen Minzner, Chelsea Foster and Ted Benford. What a pleasant surprise. I hadn't expected to see anybody that I knew. By the time things wound down on Friday I was tired and hit the hay early.

Racing started on Saturday with younger rowers galore putting up scores. I watched a bit of that, checked to see if Charlotte needed me to do more go-fer stuff (she didn't), went back to the hotel to rest up and read some of The Boys In The Boat for the third time (it never gets old or boring), have a pasta lunch at Applebee's, watch more racing, check with Charlotte again, go back to the hotel to rest up and watch racing and interviews (including Olympian Aquil Abdulla) on my laptop, and even take a brief nap. For dinner we went back to the Tun and then I was in bed early.

Sunday was my race day. 11:50 AM with all of the other oldest guys at the regatta. Got up around 7 AM or so, had some lousy hotel room coffee and stretched out some. Walked over to the center and checked in with Charlotte, who was doing just fine without me, then did a short warmup in the practice area. At 9:50 AM it was legal for me to weigh in, and as usual I easily made it while fully clothed and carry a full water bottle--a total of 151.5 pounds. Shortly after I got off the scale, 65-69 lwt superstar Tom Phillips took his turn and also kept the digital readout below 165. I introduced myself and we headed over to the warmup ergs and had a nice chat while paddling along. Tom's son, who had been in crew at college had dragged dad into the sport, and the rest is history. The son was there too to cox dad. After some more stretching and waiting ("The wai-a-ting is the hardest part"--Tom Petty), we finally were called to line up at 11:30 to await being led into the hall and to our assigned ergs. I'm not saying that my erg #13 was unlucky, but I'm not saying that it wasn't either. While in line I got to meet the oldest participant, Fred Van Looy, who was standing behind me and might have been the only one older than me.

Showtime! Out onto the floor, and erg #1 was for the great Andy Benko, looking to break the world record of 6:12. Tom Phillips was in the middle somewhere, and I was at the very end at #13. Set the foot stretchers to two holes showing, set the drag factor to 114, and waited. We didn't wait long. SIT READY, ATTENTION, GO! Half-stroke, half, three-quarter, lengthen, and settle in as fast a seemed sustainable. Crap! I had thought that 1:59s would be sustainable, but I'm only seeing 2:02s and 2:03s. Try as I might to get it down to 1:59s it felt like that would be disastrous. I can hear on the loudspeaker that Benko is right on pace for his goal and finished his race while I still had nearly 500m to go. It was indeed a new world record of 6:10. Tom Phillips had a solid 7:05 to win his division, and after a bit of a late rally I finished up at 8:05.8, my slowest venue race ever. But, since one else at 75-79 was a lightweight, I was the new National Champion. I'll have to let that sink in. Attrition was my friend this year, leaving me the last man standing, or erging, or hunched over the erg gasping for air.

It felt more like a hard workout than a race. Don't know what happened. Did I choke? A few weeks back I'd done a 7:57.5 and felt like there was better yet to come. A bit of sickness coming on? I had about a day of diarrhea upon returning home. Just one of those days? Most likely. On the way out there was Edward4492 of the forum (quiet for the past few years after concentrating OTW), renewing acquaintances. It was darn good to see him! I knew that Ed is from New Jersey and had wondered if I'd see him. He looks the same as he used to look when we would cross paths at CRASH-Bs.

From the erg floor it was quickly over to the C2 booth to see if I qualified for a stipend to the World Rowing Championships in Canada in three weeks. At the very least I got a US Team C2 shirt and hat. Darn nice shirt! Then it was a rush over to the hotel to shower up and get stuff out of the room before the extended 1 PM checkout time. Made it with 10 minutes to spare. Charlotte finished up her last interview with Brett Gorman of USRowing, who was a total rockstar of the four days in organizing and keeping everyone satisfied as she constantly traversed every nook and cranny of the Convention Center. Charlotte asked her if she kept track of how far she walked during her duties, because she and I were both curious, but Brett said that she didn't keep track because if she did she'd become competitive with herself. Haha. I can relate to that. She's my kind of gal.

We packed up the broadcast equipment and schlepped it down to the car in three trips, and by 1:40 PM were out of Dodge. Despite my offer to share some of the driving Charlotte did it all herself, as she did on the trip down. And after only a brief highway service area stop for a Nathan's NY CheeseDog & Lemonade, we were in the CRI parking lot in Boston by 7:45 PM. A quick transfer of my stuff to my car, and I was home in West Newbury by 8:45. Home sweet home.

In the aftermath, I had a solid workout Monday afternoon, and a long and hard workout with my crewmates at CRI this morning. Both felt better than the race did. I need more racing! Maybe Toronto on the 25th. Definitely CRASH-Bs on March 5th. Onward.

Renegade Rick Bayko,
Cub Reporter.

[DavidA]

Sorry you didn't go as fast as you had hoped, but congratulations on the win, and the invite.
Thank you, however, for your always fun reporting of an event.
Have you thought about adding a few photos to accompany the story?

David

[Yankeerunner]

Sorry David, no photos this time.

Also, a correction. There was no C2 guy named Andy there, it was Josh, Josh Carlson. I must have had Andy Benko on the mind when I typed that.

[Cyclist2]

Great reporting, as usual, Rick. Thanks!

And despite your muted attitude of your performance, I applaud your effort - in getting there, helping with all the equipment AND the racing. Good job!

I sure would have liked to have been there, but I'm recovering from my second shoulder surgery. The plan is to be back on the water this summer, and get back in shape for the erg races next winter. With any luck and good fortune we'll meet up.

[Yankeerunner]

A funny thing about the time. I thought that many others would take a look at it and think that they could have easily have beaten it. But then I thought that if I had stayed home and seen that someone else had won in 8:05.8 that I would have thought the same thing. Reality can be a bitch!
Next stop, Canada for the Worlds on the 25th. I entered yesterday and booked a room.

Best wishes for the recovery of the shoulder. Hope to see you again at a race. Can you believe that it's been FIVE YEARS since we met in Alexandria? Time is flying.

[Yankeerunner]

https://imgur.com/a/AUjIlmS

Found a photo. This is me and Tom Phillips (65-69 lwt winner)

[PaulG]

Looks to me that your race went pretty well. Even pace and rate all the way through with a sprint at the end. That's all you had on that day. Sometimes you eat the bear, sometims the bear eats you and poops you out in the woods. Because that's what bears do.

That was a great interview with Charlotte. You should have mentioned your open water rowing experience.

If you are still looking for excuses, and you shouldn't be, I would blame all that lugging of AV equipment around. Clearly you were fatigued before you started the race.

[Yankeerunner]

Looks to me that your race went pretty well. Even pace and rate all the way through with a sprint at the end. That's all you had on that day. Sometimes you eat the bear, sometims the bear eats you and poops you out in the woods. Because that's what bears do.

That was a great interview with Charlotte. You should have mentioned your open water rowing experience.

If you are still looking for excuses, and you shouldn't be, I would blame all that lugging of AV equipment around. Clearly you were fatigued before you started the race.

Thanks. The bear laid me bare. I suppose there will come a time when I look back and think, "Man I wish I could still do 8:05.8." But I don't expect that to happen any time in 2023. I think I should be faster.

Haha. Yeah, open water. There was the duct-taped $50 Alden 16, then the Alden Star that took on 5 gallons of water through its leaky hull. What fun!

As far as excuses go, I think I'll go with biorhythms. I must have been in the trough of my biorhythms. Hoping for a crest in Toronto.

[Citroen]

As far as excuses go, I think I'll go with biorhythms. I must have been in the trough of my biorhythms. Hoping for a crest in Toronto.

Biorhythms are always a good source of excuses. Not that your 8:05 deserves any excuses.

[Yankeerunner]

As far as excuses go, I think I'll go with biorhythms. I must have been in the trough of my biorhythms. Hoping for a crest in Toronto.

Biorhythms are always a good source of excuses. Not that your 8:05 deserves any excuses.

Thanks Dougie. I still remember you coxing me at CRASH-Bs and saving my race when I thought a false start had been called and stopped, only to have you alert me to keep rowing because what I'd heard was another cox'n's shouting. Those were the days! I could still do a 7:06. But those days are gone. "You do what you can for as long as you can, and when you finally can't, you do the next best thing. You back up but you don't give up." --Chuck Yeager

[Cyclingman1]

Cool report, Mr. YankeeRunner. I think I have met few people who were ecstatic about race day performances. Peaking is hard enough without all of the extra burden of navigating the venue and having a new routine the couple of days leading to the race, not to mention a very tiring trip to the venue city. I truly dislike the logistics of racing. I've managed to get to some erg racing venues around Atlanta, but all have been closed for the last three yrs with no sign of reopening. And I've never done particularly well - usually, like you, 5-10 sec slower than I wanted.

I'm glad you saw Edward, but I did not see his name in the racing sheets. A few yrs back I had the chance to dialog with him and Steve Roedde quite a bit. That was back when he was chasing sub-7; I think he made it. He did a complete switch to sculling. I tried it - it's not for me.

I've been trying to regain sub-7 for around five yrs after quite a few medical setbacks. I did manage in Sept, 21 a 7:02.6, age 75. So far, this season, only 7:06.8, age 76. My times are always very close to Tom Phillips'. I better get with it, because time is running out. My consolation is heading nonathlon this year. It is weird. You get old, slow down, and you get a bunch of points for it. There's a great female rower in 3rd place that kicks my butt in everything.


I'm glad that you participate in these rowing events and report. That's the only way that I will experience them.

[Yankeerunner]

Thanks Jim,

Edward4492 was there only as an observer. I think he said that he had a female relative in the action, but I'm not exactly sure that's what he said. I was still in a bit of a lactic acid haze.

As depressing as it sometimes gets as I get ever slower, I can't imagine not getting into the regattas and giving it my best shot. A couple of decades ago I came to a sad realization. I knew that as a runner in my 40s that I'd no longer be able to run as fast as I could in my 20s and 30s. But surely I should be able to run as fast as I did last month, or even last week. And yet, Father Time relentlessly takes that away from us at intermittent intervals. Too many of my overuse injuries have occurred while trying in vain to match what I've done in the recent past because I would not acknowledge that sad realization. I suspect that I'll continue to fight that until I'm physically incapable of moving at all.

Meanwhile, the Nonathlon is showing that you are managing the aging process better than the rest of us. My hat is off to you. Elizabeth Gilmore is one of the Forum Flyers in the monthly CTC challenges. Undoubtedly related to our long time member Jack Gilmore (jackarabit), although I don't know just how. She's currently the third place qualifier in the WorldRowing Versa Challenge in Toronto and I hope to be able to meet her in person. She's been fantastic since bursting on the scene.

[Elizabeth]

Rick, love the recap - I feel like I was there! Perhaps we'll run into each other at the CRASH-Bs.

Thanks for the kind words, YankeeRunner! I'm actually a Gilmore by marriage, but maybe my husband and Jack are distant relations.

[Yankeerunner]

Thanks Elizabeth. I'll look for you in Toronto and Boston. And what are the odds of you and Jack having the same last name. Gilmore is obviously a solid rowing name.