Lightweight Women at C.R.A.S.H.-B.s

The results for C.R.A.S.H.-B.s are posted. A quick look at the top 10 lightweight college finishers shows something interesting: 7 row heavyweight in college, 2 row lightweight, and 1 is Canadian (doesn't count on FITD). One I've counted as lightweight rows for Marist so she probably rows as much heavyweight as lightweight. Another woman rows for UCF but is listed as a heavyweight. One problem here is that the weight limit for lightweights at erg races is 135. This means that women who couldn't make 130 but could just suck down to 135 can race lightweight. The funny thing here, is that that would mean there are heavyweight coaches who know that the best thing for their heavyweight racing athletes is to let their weight go where it would naturally while training, yet have them lose weight for an erg race. I could care less about heavyweights crashing the lightweight erg party because the sport, after all, is about crossing the finish line on the water first, not getting a digital readout to 2k first. But for all the heat lightweight coaches take about unsafe weight loss practices, I wonder if the most unsafe are these heavyweight coaches.

You must be wondering who that one lightweight racing erg monster is, right? It's Sarah Bates, Radcliffe's senior captain and stroke. By the way, of these top ten lightweights, at least three of them raced together in NYAC's Senior B eight entry at Canadian Henley last summer.