Dynamic duo making waves on the indoor rowing scene

Published on Monday 11 February 2008 09:23

AT 77, Stan Mitchell has earned the right to put his feet up at the weekend. But instead of relaxing, the superfit septuagenarian joined around 400 athletes taking part in the Scottish Indoor Rowing Championships on Saturday.

Despite his advancing years and arthritis in his knees, Mr Mitchell entered two events – the Royal Mile Challenge, in which competitors row a distance equivalent to the length of Edinburgh's famous street, and the over-60s heavyweight event.

The championships, which attracted competitors of all ages, including 150 schoolchildren from across Scotland, took place at Heriot-Watt University's Centre for Sport and Exercise.

Mr Mitchell, from Balerno, said: "In my working days I was director of Scottish Health Education and we did a lot of work promoting health, primarily in schools. A lot of the work we did back then is just catching on now – and Jamie Oliver's lot have really run with the healthy eating in schools thing.

"I always tried to keep it positive. There's so many people lecturing you about what you can't do, or eat, but my message has always been to focus on what you can do to improve your health.

"Now that I'm getting on, I'm finding new ways to keep myself fit. I've got arthritis in my knees so I can't do all the mountain climbing or cycling that I used to do, so these indoor events are a great way to challenge my own fitness and see what I can do."

But Mr Mitchell was not the only remarkable over-60s entrant in the championships, which were backed by five-times Olympic champion Steve Redgrave.

Dalkeith man John Howie, 63, has been blind from an early age since developing the progressive eye disorder retinitis pigmentosa before he reached his teens.

He said: "I work out three or four times a week and do a bit of swimming as well.

"It's the first time I've done the indoor rowing in a competitive environment.

"It's good for getting the blood flowing, and an event like this is great for me because, once my backside's on the seat, I'm no different from any of the other rowers. You've just got to get pumping and there's no excuses at the end."

Event organiser Lee Boucher, who works at Heriot-Watt's Centre for Sport and Exercise, said: "The great thing is that indoor rowing can be enjoyed by everyone, whatever your level of fitness or expertise.

"One of our youngest competitors, Katie Carr, 13, from Glasgow, is recovering from a brain tumour and she regularly uses the rowing machine as part of her rehab.

"They're all enthusiastic and keen to do their best."

Indoor rowing consists of up to 20 linked rowing machines all hooked up through a computer to a big screen projector.

All competitors race against each other and their progress is represented by a virtual boat on the big screen.