The Student Room Group

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Reply 1
For men, sub 6:30 is pretty much the gold standard for college rowing. Several of CUBC are sub-6 mins though, or even sub 5:50! I'm not really sure what could be considered average though.
Reply 2
If yupo was headed for a sub 6.30 then prob wouldnt be posting rowing questions on here... so college level more realistic than cubc

Mens:
This stage in the year, 1:50 split for 2k (7:20 total) is prob the second boat standard. Id say 1:45 (sub7) youd have decent shot at first boat, but the best in there might be in low 6:30's. Depends on technique on the water as well, and how much weight your adding to the boat, what your flexibilities like etc

Womens:
Not entirely sure, seems a bit more hit and miss. Anywhere between 1:55 and 2:30 splits in the top 2 boats...

If you havent rowed before then a good standard of fitness prob equates to about 7:30 on the erg - better technique prob take a few seconds off that without much effort. Really depends on weight too - if your built big you can probably beast a decentish 2k time but youd likely fall apart over 30min, which is what a lot of the training is done over. Theres usually four or more boats in novice term and so long as you can do a 5min 1k youl manage to get in one of them at least...depends what your aiming for really

Hope that helps
Reply 3
to give my opinion:

if you can pull a sub 6:30 erg, you'll almost certainly be put straight in to the first boat (i believe one of the FaT first men from last may didn't like rowing, but had pulled a 6:30 erg when he rucked up, so they sent him straight to the first boat).

next, deciding what is a 2k is dependant on weight. Go to: http://www.concept2.com/05/training/competition/weight_adj.asp and tap in your weight and then play around with some times to see what the weight adjustment is. Based on your weight adjusted time I would say:

Sub 6:10 - very very good - first boat standard almost certainly (except in the very competitive colleges)
6:10-6:20 - very good, you stand a good shot at the first boat
6:20-6:30 - Perhaps a chance you could make the first boat, but don't hold out on it.
6:30 or slower - Second boat and down!

this is based on men's times obviously
Reply 4
You should have seen the rowing race between a teacher and boy at my school. Insane, this is the teacher that makes people be sick for fun in rugby, the 6ft 6 ex-Scotish international beat the GB rower. He did basically cry from pain in the end though - boys where taking pictures of him on their phones afterwards.

Classic.
Reply 5
Willa
i believe one of the FaT first men from last may didn't like rowing, but had pulled a 6:30 erg when he rucked up, so they sent him straight to the first boat


Do you know his name? I probably know him, there is a guy who noviced until Queens' ergs who could pull a 6:15ish 2k, Lllewellyn, a good mate of mine. Our international standard rower got 6:34 (it was an awful 2k for him though)
Reply 6
are these times that you record on a rowing machine (erg?)? and since i assume that they are called ergs, is it short for anything, or where does it come from? and is it pronounced as it looks or something weird?
I must be getting confused...

By 2k do you mean 2000 metres on a rowing machine at 'water' resistance?

If so, then that weight adjuster thing is a bit exaggerated, methinks. I'm a pretty skinny guy, weighing in at about 56kg, and I can do 2k on an ergo in about 7:00, but the adjusted time is sub 6 minute (5:53). This seems wayyy too low.... Ah well, I doubt I'll get into Oxbridge anyway.
Reply 8
DoMakeSayThink
I must be getting confused...

By 2k do you mean 2000 metres on a rowing machine at 'water' resistance?

If so, then that weight adjuster thing is a bit exaggerated, methinks. I'm a pretty skinny guy, weighing in at about 56kg, and I can do 2k on an ergo in about 7:00, but the adjusted time is sub 6 minute (5:53). This seems wayyy too low.... Ah well, I doubt I'll get into Oxbridge anyway.


weighing 56kg and being able to do a 2k in 7 mins is very impressive actually. Although at 56kg, I'm guessing you must be pretty short, which I forgot to mention could well be your downfall in the boat, since short-arse rowers tend to lack the ability to get the power down in the water.

but my god, 56kg.....you should be coxing!!! What is your exact 2k personal best then (at water-resistance of 130-135 drag factor)?
Reply 9
oh and yes bob, all these times are based on your 2k time on a rowing machine...or "ergometer" as they are properly called, or "erg" as everyone else calls them.
Reply 10
Or machines of torture and death, which is what they actually are.

Or sex toys, if you're really weird.
Reply 11
I row on the ergs in the gym but I have never rowed on a river before for various reasons. I do sometimes wonder though if I'm any good, so maybe you could tell me. There's no way I'm posting my weight here but I'm 5'3 and I get a split of about 2:20, 2:15 on a good day.
Reply 12
The only problem is osme people have really good erg times, but really bad rowing technique, some people who I know found that when they started.
Reply 13
naelse
I row on the ergs in the gym but I have never rowed on a river before for various reasons. I do sometimes wonder though if I'm any good, so maybe you could tell me. There's no way I'm posting my weight here but I'm 5'3 and I get a split of about 2:20, 2:15 on a good day.


how long can you hold a 2:15 split for? and at how many strokes per minute?
Reply 14
Sometimes it's really funny watching people on ergs in the gym, sometimes it's just painful because you can see how much damage they're doing to themselves.

Apparently the Jesus men are doing an 18k erg every week (as well as a couple of others). That just sounds evil to me.
Reply 15
DoMakeSayThink
I must be getting confused...

By 2k do you mean 2000 metres on a rowing machine at 'water' resistance?

If so, then that weight adjuster thing is a bit exaggerated, methinks. I'm a pretty skinny guy, weighing in at about 56kg, and I can do 2k on an ergo in about 7:00, but the adjusted time is sub 6 minute (5:53). This seems wayyy too low.... Ah well, I doubt I'll get into Oxbridge anyway.

Woh, that's crazy... I've never known someone that light to be that fast...
Reply 16
Helenia
Sometimes it's really funny watching people on ergs in the gym, sometimes it's just painful because you can see how much damage they're doing to themselves.

Apparently the Jesus men are doing an 18k erg every week (as well as a couple of others). That just sounds evil to me.


as far as I can tell, they're doing exactly what we're doing (since their boatman is one of our main coaches, hence he kind of dictates what we do)
i dont get what 'water resistance' means in terms of the ergs

at school we have some concept II rowers, i always use them at level 10 (the hardest one), whether thats water or what i have no idea cos ive never rowed a boat. what level is the water resistance level?
Reply 18
boltcarrier
i dont get what 'water resistance' means in terms of the ergs

at school we have some concept II rowers, i always use them at level 10 (the hardest one), whether thats water or what i have no idea cos ive never rowed a boat. what level is the water resistance level?


10 is too high, it's actually quite easy to lower your split as that just takes power, usually I use them on 6 or 7.
Reply 19
It shouldn't make a difference too much what setting you set the fan on, but for GB Junior tests at least, a drag setting of 130 is used. You can see the drag factor (on a model C ergo) by pressing the two rightmost buttons at the same time before you start rowing, and a number comes up in the lower right hand corner. Then move the fan handle until it comes up with 130 while you're rowing. It's best to use this rather than just the fan handle because ergos can vary (newer ones tend to have a higher drag factor), but this means you'll row with the same drag factor all the time.