A Punishing Erg World Record Attempt by Two Aussie Rowing Champions

Record breakers, Sam Loch and Matt Ryan, a photo of the two after winning their fourth consecutive King’s Cups for NSW in 2011, and they have since added another two wins.

HTBS’s Louis Petrin writes from Australia,

Sydney University Boat Club (SUBC) legends and dual Olympians Matt Ryan and Sam Loch had a crack at the Concept 2 Tandem 24 hour Ergometer World record this weekend.
 
The challenge, beat the record of 366,836 metres (an average split of 1:57.7) held by Germans Stefan Verhoeven, 27, and Matthias Auer, 41, who set the record in Karlsrue on 23-24 February, 2013.

There is no rest during the challenge with Loch tweeting that they had changeovers occurring every 20 minutes and later in the challenge went to 30-minute changeovers.

One of the requirements for this challenge is that the flywheel cannot stop spinning ever until 24 hours has elapsed! Take a look at the requirements here.

The challenge took place at the Melbourne University Boat Club on Saturday, 15 June, 2013.

Loch posted a photo four hours after starting.

Later Loch tweeted, “Through halfway in 1:52.1. Will probably cruise at 1:54/1:55 for a couple of hours”.

What did they achieve at the end? They smashed the record and set a new World 24-hour ergo record:  380,274 metres or 236.3 miles! That works out at an average split of 1:53.6 per 500m! Remember, this was erging for 24 hours.

Photo by Sam Loch of the Concept2 Screen after 24 hours.

More importantly, they have raised AU$14,718 (US$14,150) for the Leukemia Foundation.

So the beauty is that this record was not done for medals but for charity! Steve Fairbairn said miles makes champions, but you also need a big heart.