Die neue Saison startet mit ersten Erfolgen für den RCMO

Die Indoormeisterschaft fand diesmal in Rif bei Salzburg statt und die Trainingsarbeit vom neuen Indoor Rowing Club hat sich sehr gelohnt!

Hannes hat wieder Gold geholt in seiner Klasse. Und Mondsee zeigt jetzt auch in der Schülerklasse auf!

Mich freut es besonders, dass Pete, der ja mit seinem Engagement und seiner Motivation den Indoor Rowing Club zu Spitzenleistungen bringt jetzt auch noch als Journalist auftritt und einen wunderbaren Artikel verfasst hat. Ich hab anfangs überlegt ihn zu übersetzen, aber bei den internationalen Erfolgen des RCMO kann auch mal ein englischer Artikel über unsere Erfolge berichten.

@Anne-Astrid der nächste Artikel ist dann auf Französisch ;o)

Selber war ich froh überhaupt schon dabei sein zu können nach meinem Schiunfall und einer gebrochenen Hand. Aber dafür ist Helmut wieder voll dabei, die Saison 2015 kann kommen !!

und Zeit für mein persönliches Training ist ja auch geblieben ;o)

Viel Spaß beim Lesen! Euer Martin

Sunday 25th January saw the 26th Internationale Österreichische Indoormeisterschaft take place at the University Sports Centre in Rif. The event was hosted by Ruderclub Salzburg Möve with 20 racing concept 2 ergometers set up in front of a big screen and in a separate hall, approximately 50 machines used for warming up for each race.

Following on from the success of the previous year, several members of the new Mondsee Indoor Rowing Club decided to take part, so therefore plenty of effort was put towards training in the Sailing School conference room and over the winter months this has so far proved to be a popular activity for those wishing to keep fit.

Myself, Helmut, Ann-Kathrin and Martin departed Mondsee in the Wandl Wagon in time to get ready for the first race at 9:10, Hannes came separately with his Family  just in time for a quick warm up and the start of the Masters B 1000m. Under Doctors orders I was not taking part so it was down to Helmut and Hannes to represent our club and they did this with great courage and determination because this event ‘HURTS’……..

Each competitor is allowed someone to sit behind them and give encouragement, I took Hannes and Martin took Helmut…..This race requires composure in the first 500m and determination in the 2nd 500m when the lungs and legs are on fire. My worry with Hannes was that he would go too fast at the beginning and slow down badly at the end….his goal was to beat the time of 3 mins 10 seconds and set a club record…..my worries were unfounded and after 10 strokes he hit his ideal race pace of 1:34 for the first 500m, this continued until the last 200m and I could see his legs starting to seize up from the lactic acid, however he was in the last 40 seconds of the race and he blocked out the pain to finish in a time of 3:08.9 and to win the event, an amazing time and a message to other clubs that we are dangerous this season….Well done Hannes, all that training paid off and you are a National Champion.

Now Helmut is a different Story….last year he did a time of 3:12.5 which is impressive and a few weeks later while playing football managed to totally rupture his achillies tendon which is unimpressive, talk about bad luck, he missed the whole rowing season and only managed to get back racing in the 4x with us in October for the 6Seen Regatta. So his basic level of strength was not what it should have been, however he decided to give the competition a shot. Helmut knows how to pace a race and needed no coaching for this one and through his hard work and training knew that he could hold a pace of 1:39ish. In fact he completed the whole race in 3:17, came second overall and at the same time beat the Early Bird champion Gerald Aigner by 1 second……Anyone who can row under 3:20 on these machines needs to be strong and fit so I think, Helmut is BACK!!!!!!

Next up was Ann-Kathrin. The Schülerinnen of her age need to do 1500m and due to the age and size of the competitors this is a long race, more endurance than sprinting and mentally tough to go with it. After a nervous 30 minute warm up and a technical delay from the organisers, Ann-Kathrin was ready to race. She set the drag factor to 110 and a few minutes later they were called to attention and the race started…..All 20 ergs were being used in this race and each competitor had their own support group so you can imagine there was a lot of noise….I therefore decided, as Ann-Kathrins support person that I would also make a lot of noise, I’m not sure if it made much difference but She rowed the perfect race, keeping an even split time all the way and beating her personal best time by 3 seconds. Her time of 6:14.9 put her in 16th position overall, which for someone who has just started to use the erg is very good indeed considering other competitors have been doing it for at least 2 years if not more. There is only a small improvement to make and she will be in the top ten. A great effort and she should be proud.

After even more technical difficulties the team races began. This meant Master Men B and C categories for Mondsee….Great Participation levels from the club.

First up was the Master B, I was feeling pretty terrible but figured it was only 500m so no harm could be done to long term health, therefore we had a full team of Hannes, Martin, Helmut and Myself. Our competitors were  from Wiking Linz and Ister Ruderclub, whose team included a certain Marcus Schneeberger. The Linz teams were only there for the team race and you could tell there was a lot of rivalry between them. They were all big fit chaps and ready for a fight. For me, the race was a blur…keep the rating up above 46 and go as long as possible at full power, I was quite pleased to finish myself, but the Ister team blitzed us all in an amazing 1:28.5 time. Marcus clocked a time of 1:25.5, amazing himself and everyone else, he may even get into the Austrian team with a time like that and compete in his 2nd olympics, you never know. But seriously, we did not disgrace ourselves and our time of 1:30.5 was the same as the previous year and only 0.5 seconds off 2nd place.

The last race for Mondsee was the Master C race. Franz Fritsch, Rudolf Gmeinbauer, Franz Leitgeb and Josef Sögner, bravely took to their racing machines. I was sitting behind Joseph and Franz L and Martin was behind Rudy and Franz F. The race started and it was full gas from the boys…they gave everything and were gasping for oxygen after the race. I was quite amazed to see both Josef and Rudy had beaten the 1:40 mark and the overall average time was 1:40.9 which put them in 3rd place only 5 seconds slower than the team from Steiner Ruder Club which included some well known rowers and previous rowing champions. A great effort by all and the end of my voice from all the shouting.

After the race a joint decision was made to buy one of the competition machines for our club. Franz Leitgeb managed to haggle them down to 850 euros which now means we can get one pair of slides this year and stay within budget. The club now has 4 machines which was the original target and with a couple of other borrowed machines we will easily be able to keep 6 at the club throughout the winter season which is perfect.

In general the day was a success and everyone who took part gave 100%. It was not all plain sailing however, and we need to apologise to Jacob who was entered into the wrong race against most of the Austrian Junior 8, most of whom are 1.95 tall. Unfortunately we were unable to enter him into his own race alongside other lightweights because there were no spare ergometers and he had to forfeit the race. This was a real disaster because he had trained hard for this and wanted to record a good time. However the upside is that he will be well prepared for the rowing season and hopefully have some success on the water in the coming season.

So now all the short racing is over and once again we move onto the longer distances. The next ergometer race is on the 28th February. It is a 30 minute race and held throughout Austria. You just text a photo of the computer screen with the score to the organisers along with your weight and that is it. We will do it all in the Sailing School so anyone interested must say so to me. Save the Date..28th Feb.

Wishing each and every one of you all the best

Pete