By Richard Parr

For The Beachcomber

Burton Beach Rowing Club started its third year with some solid performances at Ergomania, the biggest indoor rowing machine competition in the Pacific Northwest held on Jan. 25 in Seattle, with over 300 entries and competitors ranging from 8 years old to over 80.

The performance of the day across all races came from Isaiah Harrison of Idaho, who rowing as “Unaffiliated” pulled a truly remarkable 5:54.1, which is one of the fastest junior times ever recorded worldwide.

Leading the way for BBRC was 13-year old Keziah Rutschow, who held off 7 other rowers to win the gold in the Youth 500 meter dash. Afterward, Rutschow said “I was nervous because it was my first erg competition. I was really happy and maybe a little surprised that I did so well, but I’ve been working hard and my teammates are always so encouraging.”

In the Junior Women’s 2k race, BBRC rowers Ros Belscheidt and Junior national team member Kate Kelly competed against 56 other rowers in the largest field of the event. Belscheidt finished a very creditable fourth, while Kelly, coming off some well earned “down-time” came in seventh. Both rowers will have a full load this spring, with aspirations of further national team representation, and Kelly heading to the University of Virginia next autumn on a rowing scholarship.

Fifteen-year-old Davis Kelly more than held his own in the Junior Boys U18 field, coming fourth out of 21 entries. Teammate Dylan Carmody had a solid performance, placing eleventh.

After a “not-too-wet” winter with a lot of on-water miles – and perhaps even more post-row hot chocolates, spring training for the BBRC squad starts in earnest this week, hopefully culminating with berths at the US Youth Nationals in Florida in June.