Driven to compete: Rowing provides thrill, lifeline for some

GAINESVILLE -- Two years ago, April Smith found herself at a crossroads.

Her husband, Dewayne, had just passed away from lung cancer, and she was in dire physical condition -- overweight and dealing with diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

It was then that she rediscovered rowing -- a sport the area resident learned as a teen in Canada –- with the Lake Lanier Rowing Club at the Olympic venue at Clarks Bridge.

Today, Smith is 75 pounds lighter and her health issues have disappeared thanks in large part to countless strokes of the oar.

“It saved my life; there’s no doubt,” Smith said of rowing.

It wasn’t a quick journey for Smith, who needed a year following her husband’s death to undergo bariatric weight loss treatment at Northeast Georgia Medical center in order to initially combat her health problems. But once she found her way back into the boat a year ago, she says there was no question that rowing would maintain her newfound well-being.

“The first night I got in a boat I looked up at the sunset and felt my husband and my mom were with me, and I started crying,” said Smith, 55. “And I knew this was for me.”

April is far from alone; in fact the LLRC’s masters rowing program (for rowers aged 21 and above) includes about 100 members of all ages, athletic ability and skill levels.

“I wanted to be around people and meet new people,” Smith said. “And I did here; in fact it’s been like a new family for me.”

While not every member of the LLRC has as unique a story as Smith, each has their own reason for finding their way to rowing -– and each has become a lifelong fan of the sport.

“I think a lot of it has to do with being on the water,” LLRC coach Jim Pickens said. “People love that. The equipment and the boats are also very neat, but one of the big attractions for people is that you can get a good workout here but you don’t have to push yourself all the time.”

Make no mistake, it’s not easy, but rowing acts as both a good aerobic and muscle-toning exercise: competitors must do the majority of the work with their legs while also using their back and arms -- in tandem with other rowers (very few rowers go solo, and boats include two, four and eight-man teams).

And while it takes time to develop a rhythm with fellow rowers, being able to rely on others is another draw of the sport.

“With running, you’re either running or you’re not. But here, you don’t have to go 100 percent all the time,” Pickens said. “You can go 70-80 percent and still be getting exercise -- kind of like cycling.”

Rowing is also easy on the joints and limbs, which allows older athletes to compete for much longer periods -- and most LLRC members practice two-four times a week.

“It’s very low impact -- the pressure on the joints is not that great,” Pickens said. “And it’s the only sport proven to actually increase bone density. Most aerobic exercises drain you of calcium, but this one actually helps you increase it, and that’s huge for older women, who may be dealing with osteoporosis.”

It also helps that the LLRC has one of the nicest rowing venues in the nation to call home.

"Sometimes people don't realize how spoiled they are around here," Pickens said. "This is such an incredible facility. I've been in other places where you have to walk through the woods to get to the water or hike a long distance. Here, you're right on the water, with an incredible boat house."

Those kind of positives are what keep people like Chuck Logg rowing at age 78. Of course Logg also has an illustrious history in the sport -- he won an Olympic gold medal in a two-man boat (men’s coxless pairs) at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Finland.

“My father was a coach growing up, so that’s how I got introduced to it,” Logg said. “We went to watch the 1948 Olympic rowing trials, and my father said, ‘I can get two guys to do that.’ ”

So Logg, a student at Rutgers University in New Jersey at the time, found himself in a boat with an inexperienced freshman rower four years later at the Olympic trials. The duo won the U.S. trials and, three weeks later, the Olympics -- overcoming a horrible first race in which they finished dead last and were forced into a loser’s bracket.

“It was a whirlwind,” Logg said. "We went straight home from the U.S. trials, packed and were headed to Finland."

While none of the master’s rowers at the LLRC hold any Olympic dreams for 2012, Pickens does ask that every member of the club compete against other rowers in regattas -- a facet that he says only increases a competitor’s love for the sport.

“A lot of people, when I first tell them that they’re going to compete, tell me their too old, but most of them end up competing with and in the same boat with people their own age,” Pickens said. “And once they start doing it, it really hooks them even more.”

It certainly hooked Smith, who, along with three other LLRC rowers, are taking their competitive juices overseas, rowing in the Masters Olympics, Oct. 10-18 in Sydney, Australia. Inez Grant, Jane Berry and Kim Johnson will join Smith in Australia, where they will get to live in the Olympic village and compete against other masters rowers from around the world.

“Jane came to me a year ago and asked if I was interested,” Smith said. “We’re also trying to get organized with some rowers from Washington [state] so that we can have eight-man teams. We’re all very excited.”

For Smith, it’s just the latest step down a road that changed her life.

“The spirit of this sport is amazing,” she said. “Your soul’s out there on the water.”

***OK, now you’ve that you’ve read about them, how do you think Access North Georgia’s own "intrepid" sports editor Morgan Lee will stack up against them? All summer, Morgan will focus on area amateur athletes and the trials they put their bodies through. Then he will try and match them -- as best as an “average guy” can. After featuring each athlete(s), Morgan will attempt to push through an average training session with said athlete(s). He will then report back at the end of the week on just how that session went (assuming he’s still alive). Be sure and check back Friday to see how Morgan survived a rowing session with LLRC coach Jim Pickens at the Clarks Bridge Olympic venue.***