The British Indoor Rowing Championships take place at the National Indoor Arena (where Gladiators used to be held) in Birmingham on Sunday 26th October. For the first time, I will be attending, and am greatly looking forward to it.

While I don't expect to do particularly well at the championships (even a personal best is looking touch and go), it should be a great experience. Training isn't been going terribly well - a badly-timed cold two weeks ago has really set me back; prior to that I was looking good.

Anyway, I received my snazzy Free Spirits (my 'rowing' team) team kit yesterday, and at the very least I'll look the part.

I might have come and watched your pain but I'll be in the Emerald Isle. Have had my fill of Birmingham this week anyway!

Good luck with it

You went to rowing Alan? Good luck, hope you did well.


Oh, and hello everyone!

Who let him in?

Indoor rowing on a machine ? whatever next people will be racing cars on there computers next

Good luck Alan

yeah good luck alan.

SteveS wrote

Who let him in?

No idea, someone should throw him out soon!

Hi, Joonas (our second one) btw!

First one with that spelling

Give a guy an extra "o" and he thinks he can rule the world!

Haha, sure looks like that, Jonas ("single-o" Marquez)!

"Single-o" heehee

Thanks guys. Going to be leaving shortly for Birmingham. My race is at 4:45 tomorrow afternoon. By 4:53 I'll be wondering why I put myself through that!

That's me back home from Birmingham. It's been a looong weekend, but enjoyable. Absolutely amazed to report that I set a PB of 7:11.6 - an improvement of 0.5s! I have absolutely no idea where that came from, as I started the race genuinely feeling I'd be happy to get within a three or four seconds of my PB. Beating it just wasn't a possibility! At the end of the race I couldn't believe I had gone that fast - still can't quite believe it, to be honest.

Scottish indoors in three months. Best get back to training...

Well done Alan can't do much more than setting a new P.B

The adrenaline must have been pumping! Good job

Not to get you off your high horse, Alan. But it seems different pools have better chances of faster times, maybe it's the water; I don't know. You see in some olympics games they set more WRs than other olympics games.

Still very well done, though

No water involved, Morten. It was indoors, on Concept 2 rowing machines.

This is from last year, but you get the idea:

Rowing on a floor... stupide!!

Rowing in water... cold 'n' wet!

Good answer !

In the next room its got competitive step aerobics.... good job alan.

Nice one Alan. Thanks for the photo - I was trying to visualise how it might be....