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Sparks fly as Super Sprint Sunday shakes up British Rowing Indoor Championships

The all-new competition on 8 December 2024 proved a popular addition to the British Rowing Indoor Championships

The inaugural Super Sprint Sunday saw racing in six exciting short-distance challenges, each designed to test the speed, strategy, and stamina of athletes across a range of categories. From explosive 100m sprints to the tactical intensity of elimination races, competitors recorded incredible times in pursuit of the British Super Sprint Champion title.

The Surprise Challenge

The 2024 Surprise Challenge took the form of a  steep ramp up, with competitors completing five rounds that increased by a minute each time, culminating in the fifth round of five minutes. In this brutal combination of tactical decisions and stamina, there were some sensational performances, with Ben Jago winning gold in the Masters Open category after rowing an impressive 4,457m and Lucy Crundwell claiming the Women’s title with 4,003m. Sander Bølge won the Open category in his first ever competitive rowing race, saying “I was ahead most of the time and I had much more to give!”

Amongst the winners was 12-year-old Cayleb Green from Dominus Fitness in York, who covered 3,267m in the Junior Open category. Gold medal in hand, Cayleb said, “This feels awesome, it’s my first ever rowing competition so this is a big surprise for me. My race was very tough, but I’ll definitely be coming back next year.”

1000m sprint

In the 1000m Individual Sprint, Jim Berriman from indoor rowing group The Delivery Room won gold in the Open Masters category with a time of 2:50.2, just 0.1 seconds faster than his teammate James Hudson, who took the silver medal. Liam Conneely from Lincoln Rowing Club came away with bronze in a time of 2:52.6.

In the Women Masters category, Sarita Kristina Hansen won gold with a powerful performance of 3:33.9, followed by BRIC Women’s 50-54 500m gold medalist Lillian Dramsdahl (3:45.0) and Kelly Stark (3:49.1).

Madelaine Evans won the Junior Girls 1000m Super Sprint Champion title in a time of 3:36.9. Liam Ellison claimed the Junior Open category in an impressive time of 4:14.4.

The fastest time of the event unsurprisingly came from 500m World Record holder Phil Clapp, who sprinted to finish in a phenomenal 2:45.1. Joining Phil on the podium were Loïc Schalbetter, who won silver in a time of 2:57.5, and Eton Excelsior RC’s William Kirby, who won bronze in 3:19.4.

Eva Barrellon-Kendall took home the Women’s 1000m Super Sprint Champion title with a time of 3:25.0, followed by Danish rower Zoe Dickson in second place with 3:27.5.

After collecting one gold and two silver medals on day one of the British Rowing Indoor Championships, Marlow RC’s Steven Montague added to his collection in the Adaptive Open category, winning gold in a time of 4:21.9.

The 1000m event was also the first pair event of the day, where two athletes could cover the distance in a relay style. In the Open event, The Titans of Piraeus took charge of the race, finishing with a huge win of 2:42.6.

250m sprint

The short bursts of high-energy racing continued with the 250m sprint challenge. Fresh off the podium after winning gold in the 1000m event, World Record holder Phil Clapp took to the race floor again, this time to challenge European Champion Chris Scott. In a tightly fought battle to the line, Phil Clapp came away with the gold medal in an incredible 0:33.8, followed closely by Chris Scott’s 0:35.2. Loïc Schalbetter wasn’t far behind the two formidable rowers and came in to win bronze in 0:36.1.

Talking about the level of competition at Super Sprint Sunday, Clapp said, “There’s a really high standard of athletes here, I’m just amazed at the amount of people doing multiple races which is great to see.”

In the Women’s event, Vár Guriardóttir Hansen won the gold medal in an outstanding time of 0:40.9, followed by Women’s 2000m bronze medalist Elizabeth Gilmore (0:42.8) and Eva Barrellon-Kendall (0:43.5).

Just 0.6 seconds separated gold and bronze positions in the Masters Open category, where Norwegian rower Håvard Landsem became Super Sprint Champion in 0:35.1. Just 0.2 seconds behind him was Clyde Cutajar from Malta, who won silver in 0:35.3. The bronze medal went to Jamie Lawton in a time of 0:35.7.

There was more success for indoor rowing group The Delivery Room in the Masters Women’s category, where Rachel Fisher came away with gold in 0:42.3. With 0.2 seconds between silver and bronze, Phyllis Agbo came second in 0:43.6 followed by Matilda Lindberg in third with 0:43.8.

Worcester Athletics Club’s Damon Cripps won gold in the Adaptive Open category in a time of 0:39.6.

In the Junior categories, Northampton School for Boys’ Mikey Graham claimed gold in the Junior Open event in an outstanding time of 0:38.8. In the Girls’ event, Beatrice Wilshaw became Super Sprint Champion in 0:46.7.

100m sprint

The pace picked up yet again as Super Sprint Sunday moved into the 100m event, where the quickest times of the day were recorded. The women’s podium saw similar results to the 250m event, where Vár Guriardóttir Hansen stood on top after winning gold in 0:16.0. Claiming her third medal of the weekend was Elizabeth Gilmore in silver place with a time of 0:16.7. In an astonishing finale, bronze medals were awarded to Anna Heikkilä, Chinazo Okeke and Eva Barrellon-Kendall who, after finishing the race in 0:16.9, tied for bronze position.

After collecting her medal, Chinazo said, “The race was quite intense, it was my first time ever racing 100m so it was great to experience. It was crazy to be getting bronze with two other people, I think it really shows the calibre of competitors here and how small the margins can be. Maybe an extra 30 minutes of sleep last night would’ve done it!”

Phil Clapp raced once again in the 100m, storming to the line in an astonishing 0:13.2. Chris Scott challenged Clapp once more, coming away with silver in 0.13.9. Loïc Schalbetter claimed the bronze medal in 0:14.2.

More 250m Super Sprint Champions took part in the 100m race, with previous gold medalist Håvard Landsem winning the 100m in 0:13.4. Also winning her second gold medal of the day was The Delivery Room’s Rachel Fisher with a time of 0:16.3.

Familiar names were also present in the Adaptive categories, with Damon Cripps winning gold in 0:15.3 and Marlow RC’s Stephen Montague winning silver in 0:20.9.

There was tough competition in the Junior events, where Beatrice Wilshaw came first in the Junior Girls category in 0:18.1, followed by Vár Í Húsinum (0:18.9) and Nanna Schiller Jóannisdóttir (0:19.4). In the Junior Open category, Northampton School for Boys’ Mikey Graham won his second gold medal of the day, just ahead of Maidenhead RC’s George Lloyd and St George’s College Weybridge’s George Barker who tied for second place in 0:16.0.

1 minute

The penultimate event tested the furthest distance athletes could cover in  a minute. After winning two bronze medals in earlier challenges, Loïc Schalbetter won gold after covering 388m. Schalbetter was followed by Rody Saad Farly with 387m and Adam Spurr’s 371m. The women’s event saw more familiar names standing on the podium, as 1000m, 250m and 100m medalist Vár Guriardóttir Hansen raced to victory with 351m. In second and third place were Chinazo Okeke with 333m and Tereza Horejsova with 332m.

Athletes from the Northampton School for Boys claimed the top two positions for the Junior Open category, where Mikey Graham’s 383m was followed by teammate Jacob Adiamah’s 281m. 302m was what it took for Vár Í Húsinum from the Faroe Islands to win gold in the Junior Girls category, with silver position going to Poula Christiansen (287m) and bronze to Northampton School’s Jasmine Howe (278m).

Damon Cripps was back for the Adaptive 1 Minute event, where he won gold with a distance of 364m.

Elimination Race

The final event of the day was The Elimination Race (individual and pair races), a tough test of tactics, power and endurance. Pace boats started 5 seconds after the race began and increased speed every 20 seconds. The total race length was 6 mins, but if the pace boat caught the athlete before the end of the race, they were eliminated. If more than one athlete made it to the end, winners were decided by who covered the furthest distance.

In the individual Open event, Loïc Schalbetter was the only rower to make it to the end, covering a brilliant 1549m. Elizabeth Gilmore was the last athlete in contention in the Women’s event, as her average split of 1:44.5 allowed her to cover 1721m in total.

There was some close competition in the Masters Open category, as five competitors made it across the line in front of the pace boats. Anders Meskestad Jacobsen won by covering 1887m, followed by Sub 7 Indoor Rowing Club’s Ben Jago with 1867m and Concept2’s Dan Brookes with 1736m. In the Masters Women category, three athletes made it to the finish line, with Sarita Kristina Hansen’s winning distance of 1222m securing her the gold medal.

St. George’s College Weybridge’s George Barker won the Junior Open category, after staying in front of the pace boat for the whole six minutes and covering 1131m.

For the Open pairs relay-style event, Thunder & Lightning won gold with a distance of 1975m, followed by Carmarthen RCs 1641m. In the Women’s event, three teams made it across the line, as team Rach² flawless transitions and teamwork meant they covered 1833m to secure gold. Silver went to the Dominus Strongwomen (1785m), and bronze went to The Rowing Twins team (1752m).

Find all results from Super Sprint Sunday here:

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