100 year old Hodgson steals the show

03/12/2010 02:22 CET

The 20th British Indoor Rowing Championship may have attracted about 3,000 entries of all abilities and ages, but 100 year old John Hodgson stole the show by achieving a new bunch of firsts. Hodgson finished the 2,000m distance in the indoor rowing machine in a time of 13:32.6. He held a 26 to 27 stroke rate pace with splits of just over three minutes per 500m. As the only, and oldest ever, competitor in this age group, Hodgson added another record to his growing list. He holds the World Record and British Record in both the 90 – 94 year old lightweight men’s category and the 95 – 99 lightweight men’s category. From Great Britain, Hodgson took up indoor rowing at the age of 90 because an ankle injury prevented him from running. He trains three times a week and admits he likes the attention that he gets. On the British Concept2 website Hodgson states: "I've always considered myself to be one of the lucky ones, because I've always been fit and well all my life. I remember as a teenager when I did cross-country and cycling I used to think that if this is how it feels when you're fit it's well worth it. That's been in my subconscious mind ever since, so I've trained more or less all my life." The only rower from the British team that competed at the 2010 World Rowing Championships to compete at this event was Debbie Flood. Flood took gold last month in the women’s quadruple sculls in New Zealand. At the British Indoor Rowing Championship Flood finished first in the open women’s event clocking a time of 6:48.7. Sanita Puspure finished second with Fiona Bassett third. In the open men’s event perennial indoor rowing competitor, Graham Benton won in a time of 5:50. Benton also holds the record for this event when he clocked a time of 5:42.5. Finishing in second and third respectively was Michael Bennett and Matthew Vanstone.