Last Saturday, the annual North Allegheny Indoor Rowing Championship took place at Marshall Middle School. The event, dubbed “NA Erg in the ‘Burgh 2020” and hosted by NA Rowing, is the team’s biggest fundraiser, bringing together several Pittsburgh-area high school and club teams.

Contrary to popular belief, rowing is a year-round sport. The winter season takes place indoors as rowers practice on ergometers (or “ergs”) to prepare for spring. The highlights of the much-dreaded winter season are erg races.

Most rowers compete in the 2,000-meter race, or 2k, which is a common benchmark used to compare rowers’ abilities.

Freshman Jackson Rodgers rows in the novice men’s event. Rowers are grouped into events closely aligning with age: novices (freshmen or those in their first year of rowing), JV, and varsity. 

Freshman Tabo Mkandawire competes in the novice women’s category.

Rowing on ergs, or erging, is especially challenging. Races not only test rowers’ physical ability but also their mental fortitude. The green buckets beside each erg are affectionately called “puke buckets.”

Senior rower Derek Oczypok likens erging to eating pancakes.

“At first, it feels great and exciting, but at the end, you feel like you’re going to explode,” he said.

Freshman Maggie Reinhart finishes her 2k, relieved that she beat her previous time.

Rowers have an option to have a coxswain, someone who offers encouragement and guides them through their race, beside them. Junior Haley Dubovecky coxes sophomore Alexandra Junko during her race.

Exhausted right after his race, freshman Caleb Sanders immediately fell off the erg.

In an effort to make the sport as inclusive as possible, erg races often have adaptive 1k events for rowers with disabilities.

On the subject of adaptive events, junior Emma Jane Sprunk said, “It’s a great opportunity to raise awareness and the participants get the chance to feel accomplished and good about themselves.”

For each race, spectators had the ability to view how rowers stacked up against each other in terms of their average pace. 

Rowers are lined up on the ergs based on their most recent 2k time. Here, juniors Erick Ilkhanipour and Nathan Greenberg race against each other. 

It is easy to tell when a race is nearing its end, as the cheering from parents, coaches, and other rowers intensifies.

Stella Summerlin and Wynn Musselman, among other middle schoolers, had the opportunity to participate in a middle-school age 1k race towards the end of the day.

 The mixed 6-person relays were the last events, and teams competed in the same novice, JV, and varsity categories.

Freshman Felicity Smith races in the novice relay. Each person is responsible for rowing 500 meters for a total of 3000 meters.  The NA teams won both the novice and JV relays.

About three more weeks of indoor training remain before the team begins its spring season on the water.