BIRC 2008

[Thomas W-P]

I am just going out of the door for BIRC. Good luck to everyone else on their way.

I thought we could post reports etc. here.

Attached is a start list of Free Spirits with all the forum names I could remember in the rush to get out of the door!

[Oliva]

Good luck to all FS.

[kingy2]

Me too, hope you all have a great day.

[Brendan Glynn]

Good luck all hope ye are all happy with the results ye get

[BigWaveDave]

Good Luck to FS - fate has conspired to keep me away but I am fully with all of you.

Looking forward to hearing/reading the results and stories

[Derrylad]

Good luck to all you Fsers. Make sure you take lots of piccies.

Rob

[Spamuel]

Good luck everyone!

[Thomas W-P]

Just back from a very nice but very slow Free Spirits pre-race meal. Everyone in good form. JG looks amazing for his 20kg weight loss.

Roll on tomorrow.

Lots of piccies already!

[alistairkbs]

Good luck to all. I look forward to all the news and the piccies.

Alistair

[Derrylad]

So Far


Welcome to the 2008 British Indoor Rowing Championships!

The day's racing begins at 09:00 with adults age category races, with junior individual and team races through lunchtime, then the Open and Student races until the day culminates in the the Men's Open Hwt final. You will be able to read live race reports on the events here, all day long. Good luck to everyone who is racing!

Race 1 – 09:00 Men 45-49 Hwt, Men 50-54 Hwt




Men 45-49 Hwt - It's a clean start and Tony Edwards in first to build a lead, followed by Andy Sangster from the Fire Service and Mad Team. Andy Sangster takes the lead with 700m gone and keeps strong though the middle section. There is a race on though for second as Tony Edwards pushes hard against the approaching Mark Hodiak. It's nip and tuck, but Hodiak squeezes through and makes second his. It now a fight of the Fire service as Hodiak from the East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service now pushes on to close the gap on Sangster! Sangster stays on, and is roared on by the crowd and eats up the metres to win in a quick time of 6:15.2! Hodiak second and Edwards third.




Men 50-54 Hwt - Nick Rockliff is in the lead going up to halfway, but still has Robert Dean and Torben Kristiansen close on his heels. It's close all the way through and Dean in second really pushesto close the gap and is doing so in the last 300. Rockliff holds on though and wins in a time of 6:24.3! Dean 6:27.6 in second and Turner 6:33.0 in third. Good race!





Race 2 – 09:20 Men 35-39 Hwt, Men 55-59 Hwt, Men 85-89 Hwt, Men 75-79 Hwt, Men 55-59 Hwt

Men 35-39 Hwt - Tony Larkman seems the pre-race favourite and quickly builds a lead, being followed in the early stages by Kennedy-Burn and Trofimov. It's a close race for these guys as racers 4-7 are in deadlock through the middle stages. Larkman keeps strong and drives hard to cross the line first in 6:04.2, followed by Kennedy-Burn of Leander Club and then Evgeny Trofimov in third.


Men 55-59 Hwt - With 400m to go Perrin holds off a strong challenge from Stevenson in second. Perrin pushes on and wins in a time of 6:29.0, Stevenson 2nd (6:33.2) and Mottram 3rd in 6:43.8
Men 85-89 Hwt - New World record!! New British record! New BIRC record! David Shephard records a fantastic new world record with a time of 8:55.9. Fantastic achievement by David, breaking the previous world record of 9:17.5. Well done!

Men 75-79 Hwt - New British record! New BIRC record!The race is between Bill Payne, Jim Brownlow and Mike Collier (the current British record holder). Bill Payne chases Jim Brownlow hard all the way through the race, but Jim Brownlow from London RC is just too quick and finishes in by smashing the previous British and BIRC record with a time of 7:32.6. Payne second, Coller third.


Race 3 – 09:45 Women 30-34 Hwt, Women 35-39 Hwt, Women 40-44 Hwt, Women 45-49 Hwt, Women 50-54, Women 55-59 Hwt, Women 60-64 Hwt, Women 65-69 Hwt, Women 70-74 Hwt




Women 30-34 Hwt - Julia Reichel from UTRC won in a fast time of 7:05.8, second was Elizabeth Bateman in 7:09.9, Emma O'Hara third with 7:15.4




Women 35-39 Hwt - Rachel Armstrong won in a time of 7:22.3, followed by Jo Andrews (7:26.0) and Nicola Halse (7:43.6)




Women 40-44 Hwt - Marika Kivisto had a great race, pulling ahead quickly and keeping pace with the racers 2 categories her junior - she won in 7:15.6, Katherine Cross from Cheltenham second and Megan Brown third.




Women 45-49 Hwt - Val Edwards claimed victory in a quick time of 7:24.9. Sue Mitchell came second with 7:30.6, Clare Thompson third with 7:36.2




Women 50-54 Hwt - Gill Prescott put in an extremely quick time of 7:17.3 to win this race comfortably. Macdonald-Smith from Star Club was second, and Jackie Hicks third.




Women 55-59 Hwt - Anna Bailey from Old Wrecks IRC continued to show her dominance of the event by pressing her way through to another BIRC gold in 7:31.9. There was a close race for second with Marjories Roome from Minerva Sports Club holding on to second ahead of Heather Yule from Newbury.




Women 65-69 Hwt - Bonnie Allison completed the course in a great time if 8:40.0




Women 70-74 Hwt - New British record! New BIRC record!Shelagh Allen looked confident before her race, and rightly so as she convincingly beat her on record with 8:45.3!




Race 4 – 10:15 Men 60-64 Hwt etc.


Men 60-64 Hwt - A fantastic race developing between Yule and Ellesfen, but Yule keeps strong and holds his nerve to take the race in 6:49.9. Olaf Ellefsen second in 6:53., Barry Wills third with 7:05.8
Men 60-64 Lwt - Alan Gilmour won in 7:26.5, with Andrew Johnson 2nd in 7:29.1, and 7:36.6 by John Boardman from Esporta Oxford in third

Men 70-74 Lwt - John Simmons from Burnham On Sea won in 7:35.6 with Graeme Cooper second on 7:44.7 and Franco Girardi third (8:06.1)

Men 75-79 Lwt - Roger Burrell from Free Spirits IRC, second was 8:25.0 by Dick Gradley, third was Brian Forster in 09:05.2

Men 80-84 Lwt - Weston Towler won this event in 8:39.4, but not by a great deal as Alan Hanna from DUBC came second (8:45.4) and Gordon James third in 8:53.6

Men 85-89 Lwt - Stanley Aspinall completed the course in 10:59.4 to win the gold medal.

Women 35-39 Lwt - Mim Torkington won in 7:33.5, Paula Cowell from Shoreham RC 2nd in 8:06.7, and the Italian Maria Christina Piertrunti 3rd in 8:09.7.

Women 40-44 Lwt - Jeannette Walster claimed gold in 7:25.7, Debbie Cain 2nd in 7:50.3 and Julia Goulter third in 7:58.8

Women 45-49 Lwt - Kelly Sapsford and Sabina Lanzoni were close all the way down the track but Sapsford nipped it to win in 7:45.6. Lanzoni 2nd in 7:47.0 and Rose Metalli 3rd in 8:01.5

Women 50-54 Lwt - New British record! Therese Brockwell from Perth, claimed a new British Record of 7:28.7 in a great row. Carol Woodward from Sub7 club came in 2nd with 7:45.9

Women 60-64 Lwt - Janet Parker won in 8:32.0, June Johnson came second in 9:02.4.

Women 65-69 Lwt - New British record! Geri Bright recorded from East Grindstead set a new British record with 8:17.9

Women 70-74 Lwt - Gillian Burrell from Free Spirits did a fine job of recording 9:16.2 to win gold.

Women 75-79Lwt - Mavis Surridge from Reading also won gold with a great time of 9:27.6


Race 5 – 10:45
Men 30-34 Lwt - The early lead was taken by ex-GB rower Tim Male, who built to a big lead by 500m in. Holding 1:34 splits he looked set for a great race ending up with 6:18.3. Phil Turner 2nd in 6:31.5 and Ben Redman 3rd in 6:46.0.

Men 35-39 Lwt - Paul Lancaster won the gold in a time of 6:27.7, but all the excitement was behind him. It was nick and tuck all the way for 2nd, finishing in a three-horse race for line between Braeburn, Smith and Herbert. Robert Smith nipped in for 2nd (6:33.2), Anders Braebaek 3rd in 6:33.4, leaving Herbert out in the cold in 4th!

Men 40-44 Lwt - Stuart Bizarri from Team Oarsome IRC had a great race and beat the opposition in a time of 6:29.8. Gary Curtis 2nd in 6:31.9 and Simon Barnes in third in 6:36.3.

Men 45-49 Lwt - Reijo Niemenmaa from Finnrowing won in 6:38.6, in an extremely tight finish with John Brooks (2nd) in 6:38.9, and Kirby Tillotson (3rd) in 6: 39.5

Men 50-54 Lwt - New BIRC record! Paul Siebach had a great race, beating the previous championship record of 6:28, with his time of 6:26.3. Hammachi Mouss from France 2nd in 6:38.6, 3rd place was Frederik Mare in 6:39 .5

Men 55-59 Lwt - John Busk set a staggering time of 6:53.6 to win the 55 to 59 Lwt category. Thomas Knight 2nd with 7:04.5, closely followed by Chris Betenson from Cheddar with 7:05.1

Men 60-64 Lwt - Brian Bailey set a great pace from the start and had a good lead by half way. He won convincingly in 6:51.8 in front of 7:10.1 and Jeffrey Watling in 7:11.8


Race 6 – 11:10
Men 40-44 Hwt - New World record! Plenty of excitement in this race as Nik Fleming has just moved up a category to the 40-44 age group and has his eye on a record. He starts off hard and holds his splits at 1:30 for the main part of the race. At 1k to go he's still strong and at 500m to go the crowd really digs in to drive him home. Fleming responds, drops splits to 1:27 and grounds out each stroke. It's too close to call as he reaches the last few strokes, but he makes it with a new world record of 5:57.5. Andrew Benko 2nd with 6:05.7 and Julian Tomkinson in 6:13.4 did extremely well and took the other 2 medals.

Men 65-69 Hwt - Seppo Peltola dominanted the field in this category, building a massive lead by the 1k marker and hitting 1:43 splits. He carried on to win in 6:55.3, with Ken Clark 2nd in 7:06.8, and Michael Wrenn 3rd on 7:19.8

Men 70-74 Hwt - Roger Bangay and Lauri Niskanen had a great race, right at each others' throats all the way through to the 500m to go marker. Bangay pulled out a lead and built on that to win in 7:23.1, Niskanen 2nd on 7:27.1, Jones 3rd on 7:43.6.


Race 7 – 11:30
J12 boys, J11 boys- New BIRC record! Great races from the youngsters with plenty of juniors taking part and being roared on. Gregory Blanchard from WGSB won the J12 in a new championship record of 552m. Nick Burden from Ross Junior Rowing Association won the J11 race with a distance of 469 metres.

LTA Open men, LTA Open women - A great race took place between the Legs, Trunk and Arm athletes over the 2000m. Shane Ryan the Castleconnell BC won the men's event and Samantha Scowen won the women's event.


Race 8 – 11:45
J12 girls, J11 girls - Another stadium wide cheering match was on as schools from across the country raced in the J12 and J11 girls races one of which was a dead heat. Some great performances were recorded with the J12 gold going to Robyn Armstrong with 554m and the J11 Gold being shared between Emilia Larking - Concept 2 RC/ Lady Bay Primary and Alice Jenkins from Bruton School For Girls with 446 metres. Well done!


Race 9 – 12:00
J13 girls - Another extremely close race was seen here. The crowd did not hold back on their voacl support as the top 3 were neck and neck up to the line. The winning distance of 776 by Holly McMullen (Warrington RC), 2nd was Isobel Gibson from Norwich RC in 774m and Ellie Grindle from Ross Junior Rowing Academy with 772m. Great race!


Race 10 – 12:15
J13 boys - Another thrilling race was had here. Danes Hill School were out in force to support George Marais, who had a storming race coming 2nd in the 3min race. James Marshall from Peterborough City RC had gone out in front and could not be touch as he won with 866m. 3rd was Ibbadullah Shigiwol from Cheney School.


Race 11 – 12:30
J14 boys - New BIRC record! A full house here racing for this 4 minute challenge. Grange School's Emily Ford seemed favourite and rightly so as she went on to break the old BIRC record with a new distance of 1099m! Rebecca Morgan from Rob Roy in Cambridge pushed her all the way though with 1091m, followed by Rowan Raynor from

[Derrylad]

Kirby T. Less than a second from GOLD. Great result though. Should be proud. Well do to all the other FS'ers so far. Few medals there.

Rob

[paulgould]

Great results for FS so far

Congratulations to both Rogers and Gillian Burrell on their golds, and to Kirby on a fantastic bronze in a very hotly contested 45-49 skinnies!!!

Paul G

[badocter]

I did not figure I would be the first one back to post. New PB of 6:54.9 on my race (MHWT 35-39) . I don't remember exact times , but Plummy was sub-7, Strider was 6:59ish, and Mikkel was 6:33.x. You already have Kirby's and Rogers times in the post above - well done on the medals guys. No doubt the others will be along soon to post more numbers. I had to leave ealry because of working a 4PM - midnite shift tonight, so sadly I missed the open races at the end of the day.

Great day out and nice meeting so many team members. I tried to stick to plan but over-pulled the first 5 strokes for 1:3x's before I found my 1:42-43 target - stay on target to 1500m and then just could not hold on during the last 500m despite all efforts of my cox to goad me on. Still well chuffed with the result.

Just a few bumps for me on this trip were the hotel fire alarm going off at 4AM due to some pratt pulling a prank, some rather intense driving in the birmingham area last night,and having to get back to work by 4PM today...

I have some photos and video and will post them tomorrow when I get home.

[kingy2]

I did not figure I would be the first one back to post. New PB of 6:54.9 on my race (MHWT 35-39) . I don't remember exact times , but Plummy was sub-7, Strider was 6:59ish, and Mikkel was 6:33.x. You already have Kirby's and Rogers times in the post above - well done on the medals guys. No doubt the others will be along soon to post more numbers. I had to leave ealry because of working a 4PM - midnite shift tonight, so sadly I missed the open races at the end of the day.

Great day out and nice meeting so many team members. I tried to stick to plan but over-pulled the first 5 strokes for 1:3x's before I found my 1:42-43 target - stay on target to 1500m and then just could not hold on during the last 500m despite all efforts of my cox to goad me on. Still well chuffed with the result.

Just a few bumps for me on this trip were the hotel fire alarm going off at 4AM due to some pratt pulling a prank, some rather intense driving in the birmingham area last night,and having to get back to work by 4PM today...

I have some photos and video and will post them tomorrow when I get home.

Well done Bill, big congrats on the PB

[badocter]

MHWT Open: John Glynn in 3rd with a 6:04.9 (Benton 5:46.1, Hicks 6:03.9)

[Derrylad]

John Glyn 3rd in 6:04.9 - Fantastic Stuff. Congratulations John. Deserve it. Your brother is gonna be proud.

Rob

[badocter]

OK, I'm working my way through the results pages on C2. times(category)...sorry if I missed anyone or got the time wrong...please correct if so..


John Glyn 6:04.9 (A1) BRONZE
Danial Brind 6:33.1 (A1)
Mark Jell 6:37.5 (A1)
Seb Miller 6:16 (A2)
Alan Strang 7:11.6(A3)
Andrew Richards 6:33.8 (A4)
Jason Hewitt 6:43.5 (A4)
William Docter 6.54.9 (A4)
Wojciech Waliszewski 7:21.9(A4)
Mikkel Hansen 6:33.0 (A5)
Thomas WP 6:45.6(A5)
Steve Smith 6:46.4(A5)
Jonny Lear 6:47.0 (A5)
Andrew Stanway 7:18.3 (A6)
Petar Sobric 7:04.7 (A7)
William Konarzewski 6:51.9 (A8)
Alan Wisniewski 6:59.2(A8)
Paul Victory 7:08.3 (A8)
Colin Bradley 7:28.1(A8)
Roger Bangay 7:23.1 (A11) GOLD
Iain Greenwood 7:14.9 (B5)
Kirby Tillotson 6:42.5 (B6) BRONZE
David Plumb 6:59.8 (B6)
Peter Tullett 7:06.9 (B6)
Clive Ellis 8:24.0 (B9)
Roger Burell 7:58.6 (B12) GOLD

[Oliva]

Great day for Free Spirits. Congratulations all who rowed BIRC in 2008. Fantastic results Awesome John, Rogers, Kirby and Gillian

[paulgould]

Well done Bill, great PB!!

Plummy - another sub-7 - very well done!

Thomas - a bottle of wine - well done(and a not too shabby 2k as well ).

John Glynn - absolutely awesome result - really showed everyone just what you are capable of - I've no doubt you have what it takes to find another 5 secs.

Paul G

[schfarris]

Congratulations to all who rowed - awesome results. Roger, Gillian, John and Kirby

[Stan]

Just arrived back home. I am afraid I bucked the trend by having an absolute crap race finishing 10 seconds behind what I should have done in an appalling 7:18.3. I guess I was having an off day but seeing so many great results from my team mates has made me more determined to get it right next time and put this one behind me.
Once again congratulations to all the other free spirits but special mention has to go to our 3 gold medalists, Roger, Roger, and Gillian and our 2 bronze medalists Kirby and John. Johns race was absolutely awesome and it was well worth staying all day for. Special mention also to Seb Miller who shaved about 4.5secs off his pb to finish in 6:16 in his race.

[Wolfmiester]

It was truly a great (two) day(s).
My home town did us proud with the weather today
The racing was fantastic, there were a few horse voices and even some tears after JG's race, superb stuff.
Although the highlights were obviously the medals and PBs, everyone deserves applause for their individual efforts. It really is just great to take part, and everyone gets support.
It was just great to meet so many people, literally from all over the world (well, northern hemisphere anyway).
Wonderful to get a few English beers down Kirby, Jen & Mikkel too
As for my & Thomas' race, there's a stewards enquiry still pending . Although we were in Nick Flemming's race I'm sure neither of us noticed as there was never more than 5m between us the whole race and we were both constantly watching each other's names on the monitor. We were both slightly ahead of expectation pulling 1:42s with Thomas slightly in front for 1500m. I then managed to overhaul him as he died a slow death, but with 100 or so to go he put in the better sprint to pip it on the line . I mentioned he was 4 years younger of course, but he responded with the fact that I'm taller. So when I said my garden was bigger than his and he said his was tidier, we settled on the fact that he was simply 0.8s faster Great race, I hope he (and Tamsin) enjoy the wine and we look forward to seeing the race replay.

[BigWaveDave]

Simply brilliant stuff from EVERYONE, many, many congrats to all.

John G - just awesome - how did that feel?

Looking forward to all the pictures!

[badocter]

Don't forget to enter your times on the C2 Challenge Series !!!!

[Thomas W-P]

N.B. If you cannot see the pictures, click the gallery 2 link in the header and then click your back button. That should sort it.

Just home.

Not a few tears shed after John's row. An inspiring piece of work from the big man. After (virtually) watching him lose all the weight, then to meet the new model and see him race so well. He looked in serious trouble at 1,000m but then Tamsin reminded me he always looks like he is going to die when he is racing. With 100m to go he was 5th? 2nd and 3rd completely fell apart under his pressure and he was only a second from being second.



Jessica-Red and Peter-Red were great supporters - first to Zizzi's the night before and stayed to cheer on John. Great work and really smashing to meet them both and everyone else (20?) at dinner.

Kirby - fantastic row and he and Jen has travelled so far for it. True pleasure to meet him - one of my heroes in this club.. Mikkel made me laugh by saying in the pub at "half time" that Kirby was little and didn't look very strong...Not what he was trying to say! Strong enough for a bronze and only 10 seconds slower than Mikkel who had a very painful fly and die. Mikkel is a bit scary. He said that he wanted to stop at 1,400m and that the last 600m were the most painful of his life and he was rowing at 1:48 at times. And still he pulls a 6:33. I think he can go way under 6:30 when he puts it all together.

Job done for Roger in the HWT division - he got what he came for I think. The Burrells again

But as Wolfie says it is the taking part that counts and the meeting old and making new friends. Andrew Richards (flatlander) and his wife Sally were one of the additions to the race/support team and I think Tamsin enjoyed even more female company. Flatlander also had a fly and die, but was still very quick!

To be honest, there are now too many people to remember who race and that is fabulous. We kept on seeing clusters of people in FS kit around the place. It was always nice to have a friend around

My race with Wolfie...
We both went off at 1:42 - I think I had the better start since I came up as 4th when the computer sorted us all out after a couple of strokes. Soon enough though we settled in to it with us both seeing the other ahead or behind by about 3m. I felt great, so went for "Plan A" which was 1:42 until 800m then push to 1:41. This sort of worked but after feeling great at 500, I felt miserable at 1200, and the push gained me about 30cm on Wolfie I reckon. He was inexorably reeling me in and got ahead with 500m to go. I was really hurting and remember thinking "so this is why I needed more endurance work". My split slipped back to 1:43s and worse, and Wolfie rowed right through me. I just kept thinking "Wolfie has GOT to be hurting as much as me, hang in there." and "I have a good finish, is it better than Wolfie's?". I don't remember the last few seconds very much, but I "went" from 200?? All I know is that he wasn't on the screen at the end, and I thought I had seen myself go past him on the sprint. I didn't find out for sure until we shook hands afterwards. Steve was magnanimous in defeat and I fear I was a little prone to triumphalism. Still, I'd swap my moobs for him winning!

Other pictures (linked to the gallery for BIRC - please add yours!):