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Sir Bradley Wiggins finishes 21st on competitive rowing debutBradley Wiggins at British Rowing Indoor Championships (via Twitter).jpg

Sir Bradley Wiggins finishes 21st on competitive rowing debut

James Cracknell says his time was some way short of that of an elite rower
by Alex Bowden
Sat, Dec 09, 2017 15:46
42

Sir Bradley Wiggins’ debut as a competitive rower saw him deliver only a competent performance at the British Rowing Indoor Championships at the Lee Valley Velodrome. The former cyclist finished 21st out of 99 entrants in the 2km event in a time of 6m22s – 34s slower than Adam Neill who retained his title.

In the lead-up to the event, Wiggins was coached by double Olympic rowing champion James Cracknell. Speaking to The Telegraph this week, he said that a time of six minutes would be “ballsy for a first-timer but nowhere near the elite guys."

Rocking the Bjorn-Borg-gone-feral look, Wiggins faltered momentarily early on, thinking he had false started, but recovered quickly.

He is unlikely to be happy with the result, having spurned the opportunity to compete in the ‘Masters’ event for 30-to-39-year-olds.

"I could've entered my age category and beat some bloke who works in Tesco's during the week," he said. "But to go up against British Olympians and try and get close to them, to see how close I can get to them, is a motivation in itself."

Referring to Wiggins’ profile, Cracknell said: “The most requested interview on Saturday won’t be any of the rowers. It will be Brad. And if I was the press officer for British Rowing, I would want to use him to attract young kids to the sport.”

Sadly, Wiggins is reported to have left the competition area without speaking to the awaiting media.

“He’ll be hurting a lot, but he won’t leave it like that. He doesn’t want to go out on failure,” Cracknell told The Guardian. “He’ll regard that as failing to achieve his target and he’ll make sure he comes back and does it better.”

Wiggins later tweeted:

Sir Bradley Wiggins
rowing
Alex Bowden

Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.

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42 comments

Avatar
Grahamd replied to mike the bike | 6 years ago
0 likes
mike the bike wrote:

 

When I read about this competition a few weeks ago I must have missed an important paragraph 'cause I assumed he would be rowing, as in rowing a boat, not pillocking about on a gym floor.  Is this what British sport is reduced to, simulated events in the warm and dry where there's no danger of a collision or, even better, a sinking?

Certainly not a spectator sport!

Avatar
davel replied to mike the bike | 6 years ago
3 likes
mike the bike wrote:

 

Is this what British sport is reduced to, simulated events in the warm and dry where there's no danger of a collision or, even better, a sinking?

No. You don't watch much, do you?

Avatar
Greebo954 replied to mike the bike | 6 years ago
6 likes
mike the bike wrote:

 

When I read about this competition a few weeks ago I must have missed an important paragraph 'cause I assumed he would be rowing, as in rowing a boat, not pillocking about on a gym floor.  Is this what British sport is reduced to, simulated events in the warm and dry where there's no danger of a collision or, even better, a sinking?

 

http://africasteam.com/2014/12/31/contact/

 That's Team Dimension Data's web site, you can send them an email and let them know what you think about Cav being on Zwift today 3

Avatar
Sitka1000 | 6 years ago
8 likes

118 118

Avatar
bendertherobot | 6 years ago
5 likes

That ore is his problem. Get rid of that weight, he'll be fine.

Avatar
Pub bike replied to bendertherobot | 6 years ago
0 likes
bendertherobot wrote:

That ore is his problem. Get rid of that weight, he'll be fine.

Maybe Cracknell is having a little fun not telling him it is known simply as the handle on a ergo?

Avatar
OhYesWell | 6 years ago
6 likes

he's a rower and this is a cycling website...

Avatar
john1967 replied to OhYesWell | 6 years ago
1 like
OhYesWell wrote:

he's a rower and this is a cycling website...

What is wrong with some of you people, Wiggins has done more for British cycling than just about anyone else.Have you forgotton he was the first Brit cyclist to win the TdF.He has almost single handedly made road cycling cool(even Paul Weller couldnt quite manage that back in the 80's).

Avatar
HalfWheeler replied to john1967 | 6 years ago
3 likes
john1967 wrote:
OhYesWell wrote:

he's a rower and this is a cycling website...

What is wrong with some of you people, Wiggins has done more for British cycling than just about anyone else.Have you forgotton he was the first Brit cyclist to win the TdF.He has almost single handedly made road cycling cool(even Paul Weller couldnt quite manage that back in the 80's).

The whole 'jiffy bag' thing and staying schtum about it kinda leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Just saying...

Avatar
Cupov replied to john1967 | 6 years ago
0 likes
john1967 wrote:
OhYesWell wrote:

he's a rower and this is a cycling website...

What is wrong with some of you people, Wiggins has done more for British cycling than just about anyone else.Have you forgotton he was the first Brit cyclist to win the TdF.He has almost single handedly made road cycling cool(even Paul Weller couldnt quite manage that back in the 80's).

Never knew Paul Weller was a cycling fan...

Didn't look like Brad was trying very hard at the end there, almost as if he couldn't be arsed.

Avatar
Goldfever4 | 6 years ago
1 like

6:22 is really an average time for a competive rower. I would expect an Olympian to be under 6:00.

 

It's plausible for Wiggins to improve to below 6 minutes but I'd have thought the claimed target of 6:02 was more what they had in mind than his actual score - dropping the handle or not.

Avatar
Yorkshire wallet | 6 years ago
1 like

So almost in the top 1/5th. Not bad considering. Would probably make a few people consider how good their professional standard was.

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