Tim Clarke leads British success at World Rowing Virtual Indoor Championships
It was medals galore as dozens of British athletes shone at the World Rowing Virtual Indoor Championships, presented by Concept2
Credit: AllMarkOne
Tim Clarke broke his own world record on his way to winning gold at the World Rowing Virtual Indoor Championships. The former rugby player beat Norway’s Tor Magnar Enebakk by six metres in the final of the 65-69 Men’s 1 Minute.
Tim, who set three world records just after his birthday last year, recently raced at the British Rowing Indoor Championships as well as Super Sprint Sunday, where he won the Masters 65-69 Open 500m. Tim also raced over the 1 Minute distance, and since clocking 369m back in December, he’s managed to squeeze out an extra nine metres.
“It was a fantastic feeling to win the World Championship 1 Minute.” said Tim.
“I had great support from friends, which made it incredibly special. After the heats, I knew the race strategy I had to employ to break the world record, and I was pretty certain that a world record would get me gold. I had eye surgery, so training was a six-week block of heavy weights and high drag sprints, along with some zone two work. I raced at 158 drag, and it felt sustainable throughout after mainly training at 170-190.”
There was also huge success for Great Britain’s Jillian Tovey. The double gold medallist at BRIC 2025 raced in both the Lightweight Women’s 1 Minute and the 5000m. Jillian was involved in a barnburner for the 60-second effort. In a race won by Individual Neutral Athlete Tatiana Melamed, Jillian tied with Argentina’s Carolina Leonhardt after they both clocked 321 metres. Jillian was back in action across the brutal 5000m race, where she won another superb silver medal in a race won by Portugal’s Elena Chevrier Da Costa.
Across the World Rowing Virtual Indoor Championships, presented by Concept2, there were dozens of British Rowers participating in the Regional Heats before progressing through to the Finals last weekend. Racing took place across 1 Minute, 1000m, 5000m, as well as relays over both 1000m and 5000m.
Vár Guriardóttir Hansen, the world record-breaking queen of sprinting at BRIC, was back at her very best across the competition. Not only did she team up with Loïc Schalbetter to win the Mixed 1000m relay, but Hansen also broke her own World Record in the Women’s 1 Minute, winning after going 368 metres, one metre further than at BRIC.
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Members of the victorious Erg Power Series from the Women’s 4000m were also in action. Elizabeth Gilmore from the United States of America won the 40-44 Women’s 1000m event, while Tereza Horejsova was in action in the Women’s relay. Teaming up with her daughter, Vanda, and racing as Czech Erg Power, the duo won bronze beating British outfit Team Dominus by less than two seconds and the British Army who placed fifth.
Speaking of BRIC, one of the stalwarts from Durham ARC was in action in the Men’s 80+ One Minute event. Roger Stainforth took gold, beating the USA’s Michael McGuirk by two metres in the process. Continuing the golden theme, Alexander Chklar won the 45-49 Lightweight men’s event as well as the 1000m showdown. Philip Lowery claimed bronze in the 60-64 Men’s event while Alistair Audsley took gold. Sandwiched between them and just one metre back on Audsley was Spain’s Aitor Beitia.
On the women’s side of things, Amy Adderley was the fastest Brit as she won bronze in the Women’s 40-44 event. Kirsty Joisce was the silver medallist in the 50-54 Women’s category, a result she replicated in the 1000m event too. Claire Wells was also in on the medal action as she took bronze in the 60-64 Women’s event, also replicating that result over the longer 1000m distance.
Across the 1000m age categories, Herbert Sloan took silver in the 19-20 event while Head Teacher Matthew West was third in the 50-54 Men’s event. Over 1000m, one of the fastest British times came from James Hudson. His time of 2:48.9 took him all the way to the silver medal in the 45-49 Men’s event. James was 0.3s ahead of Jim Berriman, who was also a silver medallist, this time in the 40-44 category. David Rackstraw and Andrew Cobbold would round out the two podiums. George Perrin also found himself on a podium, this time in the 70-74 event.
The Lightweight Women were also on fire. Laura Allen won the 40-44 event, while Mona Ardeleanu placed third. It would be silver for Julie Drake in the 55-59 field, a result replicated by Joanna Allsebrook in the 60-64 event. Drake would take bronze in the 1000m category.
In the Women’s 1000m, success continued for Erg Power Series, and Rachel Fisher led the way for the British rowers. Her time of 3:19.1 was the best that Britain had to offer, good enough for fifth place in the 23-39 event. Sally Brierley took bronze in the 45-49 Women’s event, while Celia Whittam would place second in the 65-69 category.
There were further golden moments across the lightweight racing as Samantha Ayers would conquer all and win the 55-59 Lightweight Women’s event. Channelling her inner Jillian Tovey, Laura Allen won silver in the 40-44 Lightweight Women’s 1000m while Alison Outram placed third in the 45-49 event.
Success for British rowers continued across the 5000m event. Amy Renwick and Chris Power were the best that Britain had to offer, both winning silver medals in the 23-39 Women’s event and 40-44 Men’s event, respectively. 20 seconds behind Chris was Toby Clay, the silver medallist in the 50-54 event, while Eli Wood was just over five seconds back on Amy in third place.
There was even more golden success sprinkled across the World Rowing Virtual Indoor Championships as Hazel Fullman struck gold in the 50-54 Lightweight Women’s event. Not to be outdone, Julie Drake was back in action and this time won gold, rounding out her tricolour of medals from an incredible weekend of racing.
Thomas Marriott and Spencer Newport were silver medallists in the 45-49 and 60-64 Lightweight events, respectively, with Sean Sinclair less than six seconds behind Spencer in the bronze medal position.
