The athletes competing in the Connecticut Indoor Rowing Championships weren't going anywhere Saturday. The passion for competition, however, was as alive as if they were competing in a mid-summer regatta with gold medals at stake.
But there were no boats, no oars and most importantly, no water, as teams from Connecticut and New York rowed at the gymnasium at St. Ann's School in Bridgeport. Instead, competitors rowed 2,000 meters on ergometers. Fans monitored the competition on a large screen, which showed where the rowers stood on the course.
"These guys are very competitive,'' said Sharon Kriz, the youth coach at Saugatuck Rowing Club in Westport, which hosted the event. "They want to win no matter what."
One of the most impressive victories came from Erin Reelick, who was competing unattached. Rowing in the junior girls competition, Reelick blistered through the 2k course in 7:12.6, winning her heat by a whopping 17 seconds.
Reelick rowed last year for the Connecticut Boat Club of Norwalk and was on the Women's 8 that won a championship at the U.S. Junior Nationals. She commuted to the club with her sister, Kelsey, who now rows for Princeton. With her ride to practice gone, Erin now practices under her father's guidance at her home in Brookfield.
"It wasn't a personal record, but it was pretty good,'' Erin said. "The competition here is pretty good. I really didn't know what to expect in terms of a result."
There was also a terrific competition in the Junior A Boys, where Saugautck's Max Meyer-Bosse pulled ahead of Maritime's Jonathon Rosow late in the race and won by just more than four seconds. Meyer-Bosse's Saugatuck teammate, Graham Anderson, finished third. Meyer-Bosse and Anderson won the 2x at the Junior Nationals last summer.
"He's very controlled,'' Kriz said of Meyer-Bosse, who fell behind Anderson in the beginning before making his surge. "He knows exactly what he has to do."
There were also masters and collegiate rowers at the meet, along with novice athletes. Besides Maritime, CBC and Saugatuck, other area clubs that competed include Sono Rowing of Norwalk, Greenwich, Fairfield Prep, Convent of the Sacred Heart, Norwalk River Rowing Association and Brunswick.
This was the event's fifth year. The venue was switched because of a scheduling conflict with Sacred Heart University, which had previously hosted the event.
Coming Monday: More photos from the meet.
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