Rowers Impressive At Championships

It may be too cold to row on the Charles River at this time of year, but that doesn’t stop the Boston University crews from competing.

The teams participated Sunday in the CRASH-B Sprints World Indoor Rowing Championships at the Reggie Lewis Track and Field Center in Dorchester. The competition featured rowers of all ages from across the globe, but a few of BU’s rowers were able to distinguish themselves with top-notch performances.

All of the events at the CRASH-Bs are individual races performed on indoor rowing machines, not on boats. Three Terrier rowers were able to advance to the finals after finishing well in the preliminary heats.

The best performance by a Terrier in the finals came from sophomore Jaxon Rudduck, who finished third with a time of 5:56.70. He just missed out on qualifying for the international final, which features the top two collegiate rowers as well as non-collegiate competitors. Rudduck also performed well at the CRASH-Bs last year, finishing fourth.

Also making it into the finals on the men’s side was senior Kevin Valent. He finished 12th with a time of 6:06.50.

Rowing indoors in a gym presents quite a different challenge than the typical outdoor rowing on the water. Rudduck finds indoor rowing to be the more grueling of the two styles.

“After three minutes, your body tells you to stop going,” he said. “It’s also more of a mental challenge.”

Though indoor rowers do not have to deal with the elements, Rudduck said that is actually part of what makes an indoor race more difficult to endure.

“It’s tough because you’re not actually moving anywhere,” he said.

The women’s crew also had a finalist in the CRASH-Bs. Sophomore Diana Bennett finished 14th with a time of 7:14.50. The top four women’s collegiate finalists made it to the international finals, but Bennett finished about 14 seconds short of the mark.