Ergomania brings top area rowers to Connolly

Marathons on treadmills, indoor skydiving and competitive spinning are three of the agoraphobic community's favorite past-times. Indoor rowing is the latest addition to the list, an activity the Seattle U crew team participated in Saturday.

Ergomania is an indoor rowing competition started in 2003 by the George Pocock Rowing Foundation. It attracts competitive rowing teams and individuals from various academic institutions in Washington and the Northwest.

Ergomania is named for the "Erg" machine, standard exercise equipment that simulates the activity of rowing the same way an exercise bike simulates Lance Armstrong's favorite hobby.

Saturday saw the competition wash up on the Connolly Center's north court, which underwent a temporary makeover in the form of fresh economically-priced blue carpeting, specially designed for maximum rowing efficiency.

After paying a $50 registration fee, competitors were treated to a mixture of hip-hop and techno music for what turned out to be a full day of surprisingly dry rowing action.

A master of ceremonies was present through each of the day's events, both to keep the rowers motivated and to keep the spectators entertained.

Seattle U crew president Samuel Nelsen and coach Mike Welly brought the team to Ergomania 2009 last Saturday to participate in the 2000-meter men's and women's collegiate rowing events.

Other events included men's and women's 6000-meter event and the 60-minute long "Hour of Power."

The Erg machines dispelled the competitor's needs for large bodies of water, substituting kilometers of cyberspace for what would normally be a massive amount of the wet stuff.

Progress was tracked via computers connected to each of the machines, with each player's position in the race displayed on large projector screens in the middle of the court.

On-site paramedics from Swedish Health Center stood by throughout the event, ready to step in just in case rowers overtaxed themselves by what the Seattle U crew calls "over-erging."

In addition to Seattle U, Washington State University, the University of Washington and Gonzaga were represented among others. Rowers were also allowed to enter as independent rowers, such as Olympic rower Brian Volpenheim. Lower educational levels were also represented, such as Seattle private high school Holy Names Academy.

The event began with men's and women's hour-long rowing events, followed by the 6000-meter events, continuing with the 2000-meter individual races and ending with the 2000-meter inter-collegiate competition.