Never too late for a rowing success

For the last 40 years, almost every day for P Venkatram has begun on the water. The 75-year-old’s rowing ritual at the Madras Boat Club isn’t just imperative for getting a happy kickstart to his day, but is also where his sense of accomplishment comes from.
For many like Venkatram, who discovered and lost their hearts to rowing much later in life, the upcoming Masters National Rowing Championship – being hosted in Chennai for the first time – is where their skills will be honed. They will experience the thrill of facing close to 60 contenders, including national and international champions.

“The masters are a big draw all over the world,” says Balaji Mardapa, member of the Tamil Nadu Amateur Rowing Association (TARA), which is organising the championship from March 8 to 10 at the rowing centre at Ramachandra University. “Even world championships see no more than 300 to 400 entries, whereas masters get close to 1,500 entries. It brings in successful people who take to the sport at a later stage in life and are willing to put in efforts and money to make it grow,” adds Maradapa, member of the Asian Rowing Federation’s Masters Committee.

One of the notable trendsetters of this is president of the Asian Rowing Federation and China’s leading real estate developer Wang-Shi, who started rowing with the masters, went on to start the interclub championship in China and has been putting in money and time into the federation to make it grow.

Back home, Dr Sivaraman Arumugam, 50, who started rowing just seven years ago, was so captivated by the sport that he set up the new, rowing centre at Ramachandra University. “Throughout school and college, I wasn’t into sports, and now I’m competing with champion rowers. That’s the challenge, but gives a different kind of high,” he says.

S Subramanian, 53, hasn’t experienced much competitive rowing. But as the championship draws close, his weeks of training have revved him up to face his contenders. “While rowing, it’s not four people but four minds that are synced together,” he says. “We may not be as powerful as some of our competitors, but when you release the boat together, it surges and picks up the maximum speed. This requires the rowers to be in sync.”

The Championship will be a 500m race, featuring participants aged 35 onwards, covering the 43+, 50+ and 55+ categories. It has 50 entries from nine Indian states, including 14 women from five states.

The team from Chennai has previously participated and won the bronze and the gold at the nationals held in Odisha and Kolkata. And they are hoping to make this an annual event in the city.

“We have rowed against national champions and beat them,” says Balaji. “The sport is lagging behind in India because of lack of clean waters, difficulty in getting government permission to use available waterbodies, dearth of funding and highly expensive equipment. But with the potential we have in rowing, if we are provided with resources, we can do wonders.”