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Chris Betenson rowed himself into the medals

INDOOR ROWING: WARMINSTER athlete Chris Betenson is celebrating this week after winning a bronze medal at the largest indoor sporting event in the country.

Betenson was one of 2,200 competitors who raced at the 2006 Concept2 British Rowing Championships at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham.

Racing over 2,000m, Betenson's time of six minutes 58.1 seconds was good enough to earn him the bronze medal in the men's aged 50-54 leightweight category.

"It was a pleasant surprise to win a medal," said the 53-year-old former Warminster School PE teacher.

"I thought I had an outside chance of third place because their were four of us who usually finish around the seven minute mark.

"Anyone who can row under seven minutes can consider themselves pretty good at this sport.

"It's always great to win a medal because it makes all the pain worthwhile."

Concept2 rowing is a gruelling indoor sport in which competitors must row the 2.000m distance in the fastest time possible.

More than 7,000 spectators attended Sunday's British Championships, the first major event of the season.

The crowd was wowed by performances from a wide variety of competitors from Olympians to school children and paraplegics to World War Two veterans.

More than 900 school children raced in the junior and team events and in the 90+ age category, 96-year-old John Hodgson from Leeds took home the gold medal.

"There's a lot of camaraderie between rowers because everyone knows just how tough the sport is," said Betenson, who won silver at the championships in 2004.

"Whether you're competing at Olympic level or junior level everyone respects each other. It's definitely the hardest sport I've ever done.

"It's a real love-hate relationship between you and the machine. If you want to be competitive you have to start the race quickly, but you know it's going to hurt later."

Betenson finished fourth at last season's European Championships and sixth at the World Championships in Boston.

With the Welsh, Irish and European Championships to contend before Christmas, Betenson is hoping for a successful end to 2006.

"It would be nice to win a few more medals," he said.

"I've got my own Concept2 rower in the garage so there's no excuse not to practice. It's a good way to relieve some stress at the end of the day."

3:57pm Friday 17th November 2006

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