When is a WR not a WR?

[Bob S.]

Having hit the big 9-0 few days ago, I now have a new classification to play around in. As a start, I did a 60’ piece yesterday and ranked it – the only ranking I have posted this season. I actually started one a couple of weeks ago, just to see where I stood, but developed a sore tendon in my right knee, early on, and dropped it after only 12’ or so, even though I had been successfully completing pieces up to 40’ and some at a faster pace. I just didn’t want to take the chance of aggravating whatever it was. On this one, that same feeling cropped up a couple of times, but I just shifted position and it faded away, so I was able to complete the piece. I don’t have a good handle on my capability at this time, so I arbitrarily assumed 9:20 as a 2k base and tried to hold a pace of 2:46.6, which would be borderline between UT1 and UT2 for that 2k base. My goal was 10800m. I was holding close to that for the first 20 or 30 minutes (no separate warm-up), but was feeling fairly pretty comfortable and let the pace drop a bit. By the last couple of minutes, 10900 looked possible, so I put on a little more pressure on with the legs and ended up with 10901m as the final result. The rate was a steady 15 spm for the whole piece and the goal was to average at least 12m per stroke. Mission accomplished. In recent, shorter more intense pieces, my HR got up into the low 130s on occasion. For this piece it was in the middle of the 110s until the last minute, which ended with 118.

Here is the list of all WRs for 90-99.

Event Category Name Gender Weight Age Country Record Season Source
1000 90-99 John Hamilton M Hwt 95 GBR 4:47.8 2014 Witnessed at public club
1000 90-99 Catherina Van Der Linden F Lwt 93 AUS 6:27.7 2006 Race result
2000 90-94 John Hodgson M Lwt 91 GBR 9:25.8 2002 Race result
2000 90-94 Harry Dobinson M Hwt 90 GBR 9:32.5 2011 Race result
2000 90-94 Ernestine Bayer F Lwt 91 USA 12:07.5 2000 Race result
500 90-99 Maria (Mouse) Vanderhaar F Lwt 95 AUS 2:49.3 2014 PM3/PM4 Verification Code
5000 90-99 Berkeley Johnson M Hwt 91 USA 25:06.1 2015 Witnessed at public club
6000 90-99 Berkeley Johnson M Hwt 91 USA 29:51.6 2015 Witnessed at public club

As you can see, for the men, there is no 500m, 30’, 10k, 60’, HM, or FM. However, my 60’ piece will not be joining the ranks, since it was done on the C2 dynamic rower. So --- no WRs for me anymore, unless I use some C2 machine other than my own – possibly at the Crossfit gym in the nearby town of Bishop. Of course the 2k is out unless I could get to one of the racing venues. The Long Beach Sprints event is 250 miles away and the one at San Diego is probably about 300. Possible, but I am not holding my breath.

As another check for possible non-qualifying ranked 60’ pieces, I went back through all the available online records, which start in the year 2002. Rather than the 90-99 category which is available for the WRs, this one uses 90+ and a very interesting item popped up in the 2005 listing:

Ben Smith 101 Dorchester GBR 13247 Ind

Note that it is labeled Ind, so I suppose that is why it didn’t get into the WR list. But 13247m in 60’ sure beats the crap out of anything I can do - at only 90 compared to his 101.

Bob S.

[jackarabit]

2:16 for an hour done by a centennarian? Ben smith is a tuff hombre. Jack

[Ralph Earle]

Jes' sayin'... but if I were C2, I just might consider loaning you a static Model D/E for so long as it took for you to set new WRs.
I'm sure the resale value would be more than enough to compensate for the ~110K depreciation -- especially if you autographed both sides of the rail.

[Citroen]

It is amazing that you're still rowing at 90. In my view C2 should allow your results to stand at the head of the rankings.

[Edward4492]

Congratulations! Most people (if they're alive!) are barely ambulatory at 90. You really need to make arrangements with a crossfit gym (they call 'em "boxes") like you said or a local high school with a rowing team. You've obviously worked hard for a lifetime to maintain your health and fitness..... go get those WR's!

Well done.

[Bob S.]

Completed the 30' event today and, together with an adjusted 6k, it gave me an additional 290 nonathlon points. Goal was to get over 6k, which I did, with a final of 6156m. It was a steady 24spm and a pace averaging about 2:24.5 until the last 1' split when I cranked it up. Over that minute, the rate averaged 36spm and the pace 2:12.7/500m, but most of it came from the last 30" when I just let everything go, probably getting close to 50spm and a little over 2:00/500m. My HR was hovering in the 135 range from 20' on to 29', then it went up to 139 by the end of the sprint.

There are only a few ranked in the archives, none of them verified and none above 6k. There is a 6k WR, but it was done in 29:51.6 and my 30' pace was 2:26.1 which would give a 29:13.2 for a 6k. However, the person that did the 29:51.6 was already 91 at the time and a year makes a big difference in this age bracket.

Bob S.

[wjschmidt2]

Just my view.

The C2 logbook rankings are just a list of times and distances listed on their Website. There is no real world ranking system in place for indoor rowing. Concept II has a rough framework in place, but we are years away from having a legitimate ranking system in place. Until then it's a great place to list your personal workout results.

I'm the world record holder for the 5' 8" 167# category for all times and distances listed on the Concept II PM3 model D.

Bill