British Indoor Rowing Championships 2019

PR1 competitors Chris Rix (sudbury) and Benjamin Pritchard (Team GB)

The British Indoor Rowing Championships is perhaps the annual pinnacle of the UK rowing community coming together. It convenes elite rowers with novice ones, junior rowers with Vet Gs, massive hulks to wispy lightweights, water rowers with gym fitness trainers. All convening around the torture device that is the centre of every training programme. The picture above, for me, captured this inclusive spirit of the day. GB PR1 World medallist Ben Pritchard in the PR1 Mens 2000m conferring with fellow competitor Chris Rix of Sudbury who completed his first event ever. Despite having destroyed his entire pulmonary system with his jaw-dropping world record smash, Ben still found breath to shout the loudest of anyone cheering Chris over the line during the race.

As British Rowing reported, BRIC is “officially the largest indoor rowing event in the world, there were over 2,300 entries across over 140 events, with athletes from as young as 11 right up to age 88 all racing in front of a sold-out crowd!” It certainly is the biggest Adaptive/Pararowing comeptition in the world with 30 separate events competed (40 adaptive events were offered). A total of 59 competitor-seats took part (with a number of multiple entries).

Some of the highest points of the day are when the records are broken and the Adaptive/Para rowers led the charge here. Two of the three World Records came from the GB Squad with Ben Pritchard and Giedre Rakauskaite setting new 2k marks for PR1 Mens and PR3 Womens respectively. Ben commented on his feat saying “Records are made to be broken.” Only, Ben didn’t just break the record. He tore into it and shredded it like a piranha on an unsuspecting hippo with bits of broken record flying all over the place. His new record is a 5.6% improvement over the previous mark. Usually, people labour for a career to shave a fraction of a sniff of a percent off a record. To put that in context, one of the biggest and most famous record destructions was Bob Beamon’s long jump in the 1968 Olympics. In an event where records are broken by a half inch at a time, he broke it by 21 2/3rd inches. It is often considered one of the top sporting achievements of all time. Now 21 inches is 6.5% improvement in the record, and Ben’s improvement on the PR1 mark was 5.6%! Absolutely astonishing to witness. I think Ben just put the PR1 world on notice: look out for GB at Paralympics 2020. This guy is a stream train on his way to Tokyo and he is not slowing down.

Another record notched by British Rowing was PR3-VI junior Georgia Walker of Marlow who set the British PR3 junior woman’s mark for the first time ever, but also the performance laid down the marker for the PR3-VI Junior Woman’s World Record as well.

In addition to world records was world competition as the event attracted adaptive competitors from a number of countries including Italy, South Africa and Germany. Sort of like Britain’s Got Talent and British X-Factor, the UK competition is the place to prove your talent in the world.

Congratulations to all the competitors and especially the winners below (full results can be found here):

E144 (PR1) Men 2000m – Benjamin Pritchard, GB Rowing (world record)
E154 (AR3-PD) Men 2000m – Luke Theophilus, Thames Rowing
E160 (PR2) Men 4 mins – Chris Brogan, Help for Heroes & David Lloyd Gym Poole
E167 (AR2) Women 4 mins – Gemma Kemble-Stephenson
E170 (AR3-Open) Men 4 mins – Calum Titmus Peterbourough City
E174 (PR2) Men 1 min – Chris Brogan, Help for Heroes & David Lloyd Gym Poole
E181 (AR2) Women 1 min – Gemma Kemble-Stephenson
E184 (AR3-Open) Men 1 min – Francesco Saverio Di Donato, Accademia Del Remo Napoli
E189 (IR3) Women 4 mins – Rachel Williamson, Help for Heroes
E206 Year 11 Boys (PR2) 1 min – Patrick O’Donovan, Great Marlow School
E208 Year 10 Boys (AR3-Open) 4 mins – Harvey Wintle, Marlow
E210 Sixth Form Boys (PR3) 4 mins – Sebastian Johnson, Marlow
E147 (PR2) Women 2000m – Lauren Rowles, GB Rowing
E156 (AR3-Open) Men 2000m – Francesco Saverio Di Donato, Accademia Del Remo Napoli
E166 (AR2) Men 4 mins – Andrew Mcevoy
E169 (AR3-PD) Women 4 mins – Helena Stone, Royal Dolphins
E171 (AR3-Open) Women 4 mins – Karen Lundy, Help for Heroes
E180 (AR2) Men 1 min – Andrew Mcevoy
E182 (AR3-PD) Men 1 min – Chris Bailey
E185 (AR3-Open) Women 1 min – Karen Lundy, Help for Heroes
E193 (IR3) Women 1 min – Rachel Williamson, Help for Heroes
E207 Year 11 Boys (PR2) 6mins – Patrick O’Donovan, Great Marlow School
E209 Year 10 Boys (AR3-Open) 5mins – Harvey Wintle, Marlow
E211 Sixth Form Boys (PR3) 2000m – Sebastian Johnson, Marlow
E223 Year 11 Boys (PR3) 4 mins – Felix Barrow
E225 Sixth Form Girls (PR3) 2000m – Georgia Walker, Marlow (world record)
E216 PR3 PD & VI 2000m – Giedre Rakauskaite, GB Rowing (world record)
E201 Adaptive Men Relay – Maidenhead / Invictus
E203 Mixed Adaptive Relay – Marlow A
E204 Mixed Junior Adaptive Relay – Marlow B