Personal information | |
---|---|
Nickname(s) | Big G Erg Daddy |
Nationality | British |
Born | c. 1973 |
Years active | 2002-present |
Height | 200 cm (6 ft 7 in) |
Sport | |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sport | Indoor rowing |
Weight class | Heavyweight |
Team | MAD Team IRC |
Coached by | Eddie Fletcher |
Achievements and titles | |
World finals | 6x |
National finals | 15x |
Personal best | 5:42.5 for 2000m |
Graham Benton is a British indoor rower. [1] [2] He has won the British Rowing Indoor Championships 15 times and the World Indoor Rowing Championships six. [3] [4] While Benton is primarily an indoor rower, he did row on the water, representing England and competing at several Henley Royal Regattas. [5]
Benton competed in his first indoor rowing competition at age 29. [5] In 2004, Graham Benton became the first non-water rower to win the men's open heavyweight event at the British Indoor Rowing Championships at 5:53.5. [6] [7] He went on to win this title again in 2005 (5:46.9), [8] 2006 (5:46.7), [9] 2007, 2008, [10] 2010 (5:50.8), [11] 2011 (5:46), [12] 2012, [5] [13] [14] [15] 2013 (5:52.4), [16] 2014 (5:52.4), [17] 2015 (5:55:6), [18] 2016 (5:55), [19] 2017 (5:55.7), [20] 2018 [21] [2] and 2023 [22] Benton also won the 30-39 year heavyweight class World Indoor Rowing Championships in 2004 (5:51.40), [23] 2005 (5:53.60), [24] [25] and 2006 (5:46.40) [26] [27] and in the 40-49 heavyweight class in 2016 (5:48.3), [28] [4] [29] 2017 (5:48), [30] and 2018 (5:54). [31] [2] [32] [33]
In 2012, he set a new British record in the 35-39 heavyweight men's class at the British Indoor Rowing Championships (5:50.1), a title previously held by Sir Steve Redgrave since 1998. [5] In 2014, he held the British outright record at 5:42.5 and in 2017, he had the fastest time in the men's heavyweight open 2000m at the Welsh Indoor Rowing Championships. [34] [17] He was a Henley Royal Regatta finalist in outdoor rowing in 2007, 2008, and 2012. [2] [5] He was given a Lifetime Achievement Award by Concept2 in 2010.[ citation needed ]
Benton is coached by Eddie Fletcher and was previously part of the ARA World Class Start Program. He currently rows for MAD Team IRC, [26] [15] [4] and has previously rowed for Tideway Scullers School, Taurus and Reading University Boat Club.
Benton works as an Account Manager for BMC Software. [1] He was formerly an "elite-level" cricket bowler and is an alumnus of King's School, Chester. [35] [26] [5] He is from Wrexham originally and now lives in Southsea, Hampshire.
An indoor rower, or rowing machine, is a machine used to simulate the action of watercraft rowing for the purpose of exercise or training for rowing. Modern indoor rowers are often known as ergometers because they measure work performed by the rower. Indoor rowing has become established as a sport, drawing a competitive environment from around the world. The term "indoor rower" also refers to a participant in this sport.
Rowing, often called crew in the United States, is the sport of racing boats using oars. It differs from paddling sports in that rowing oars are attached to the boat using rowlocks, while paddles are not connected to the boat. Rowing is divided into two disciplines: sculling and sweep rowing. In sculling, each rower holds two oars, one in each hand, while in sweep rowing each rower holds one oar with both hands. There are several boat classes in which athletes may compete, ranging from single sculls, occupied by one person, to shells with eight rowers and a coxswain, called eights. There are a wide variety of course types and formats of racing, but most elite and championship level racing is conducted on calm water courses 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) long with several lanes marked using buoys.
World Rowing, also known as the World Rowing Federation, is the international governing body for rowing. Its current president is Jean-Christophe Rolland who succeeded Denis Oswald at a ceremony held in Lucerne in July 2014.
The CRASH-B Sprints World Indoor Rowing Championships was the world championship for indoor rowing, raced over a distance of 2,000m. The regatta is sponsored by Concept2, and raced on their C2 rowers. Originally held in Harvard's Newell Boathouse, the regatta moved in turn to the Malkin Athletic Center, the Radcliff Quadrangle Athletic Center, MIT's Rockwell Cage, Harvard's Indoor Track Facility, the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center, Boston University's Agganis Arena, and in 2019, to the Boston University Track and Tennis Center. The regatta is held in late February each year.
The Harvard–Yale Regatta or Yale-Harvard Boat Race is an annual rowing race between the men's heavyweight rowing crews of Harvard University and Yale University. First contested in 1852, it has been held annually since 1859 with exceptions during major wars fought by the United States and the COVID-19 pandemic. The Race is America's oldest collegiate athletic competition, pre-dating The Game by 23 years. It is sometimes referred to as the "Yale-Harvard" regatta, though most official regatta programs brand it "Harvard-Yale".
Ernestine Bayer was an American rower who has been called the "Mother of Women's Rowing".
The Marin Rowing Association, located in Greenbrae, California, US is a rowing association and non-profit organization founded in 1968 by Coach R.C. "Bob" Cumming.
Newcastle University Boat Club (NUBC) is the rowing club of Newcastle University, UK. Established in March 1911 as the boat club for Armstrong College, it celebrated its centenary in 2011, when was also appointed High Performance Programme for heavyweight men and women by British Rowing. In the past 20 years current students and alumni won 60 international vests for GB.
Caryn Davies is an American rower. She is the winner of the 2023 Thomas Keller Medal, the most prestigious international award in the sport of rowing, and the only American to have ever won this award. She won gold medals as the stroke seat of the U.S. women's eight at the 2012 Summer Olympics and the 2008 Summer Olympics. In April 2015 Davies stroked Oxford University to victory in the first ever women's Oxford/Cambridge boat race held on the same stretch of the river Thames in London where the men's Oxford/Cambridge race has been held since 1829. She was the most highly decorated Olympian to take part in either [men's or women's] race. In 2012 Davies was ranked number 4 in the world by the International Rowing Federation. At the 2004 Olympic Games she won a silver medal in the women's eight. Davies has won more Olympic medals than any other U.S. oarswoman. The 2008 U.S. women's eight, of which she was a part, was named FISA crew of the year. Davies is from Ithaca, New York, where she graduated from Ithaca High School, and rowed with the Cascadilla Boat Club. Davies was on the Radcliffe College (Harvard) Crew Team and was a member on Radcliffe's 2003 NCAA champion Varsity 8, and overall team champion. In 2013, she was a visiting student at Pembroke College, Oxford, where she stroked the college men's eight to a victory in both Torpids and the Oxford University Summer Eights races. In 2013–14 Davies took up Polynesian outrigger canoeing in Hawaii, winning the State novice championship and placing 4th in the long-distance race na-wahine-o-ke-kai with her team from the Outrigger Canoe Club. In 2013, she was inducted into the New York Athletic Club Hall of Fame and in 2022 into the Harvard University Athletics Hall of Fame.
The College Boat Club of the University of Pennsylvania is the rowing program for University of Pennsylvania Rowing, which is located in the Burk-Bergman Boathouse at #11 Boathouse Row on the historic Boathouse Row of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its membership consists entirely of past and present rowers of the University of Pennsylvania.
Concept2, Inc. is an American manufacturer of rowing equipment and exercise machines based in Morrisville, Vermont. It is best known for its air resistance indoor rowing machines, which are considered the standard training and testing machines for competition rowers and can be found in most gyms.
Samuel Loch is an Australian former representative rower. A dual Olympian and two time bronze medal winner at World Championships, he has set and holds world records in indoor rowing with times set on the Concept 2 rowing machine.
Cantabrigian Rowing Club, known as Cantabs, is a 'town' rowing and sculling club in Cambridge, UK.
Sverri Sandberg Nielsen is a Faroese rower who competes for Danske Studenters Roklub and Denmark in the heavyweight single sculls. He also competes in indoor rowing and has set a new Danish record three years in a row, 2015, 2016 and 2017 and again in 2019 and 2020. In 2019 he won silver medal at the World Rowing Championships. In 2020 he won the European Rowing Championship and the following year he won silver at the same event. In 2021 he competed for Denmark at the 2020 Summer Olympics. He also competes for Denmark at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Pavel Antonavich Shurmei is a Belarusian rower who competed at two Olympic Games and holds multiple world records on the Concept2 indoor rowing machine. He is one of the Belarusian volunteers of the Kastuś Kalinoŭski Battalion. In March 2023, it became known that a criminal case was opened in Belarus against Pavel Shurmey in absentia. Since April 2024, he is the commander of the Kastuś Kalinoŭski Regiment.
Aliaksandr Kazubouski is a Belarusian rower. He competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics and the 2012 Summer Olympics. Won the world title in 2012 World Rowing Championships in Plodviv, Bulgaria. Won the European Title in 2010 European Rowing Championships in Montemor-o-Velho, Portugal. In 2011 Kazubouski, as part of the team Dynamo Brest, competed in the Stewards' Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta.
Emanuele Romoli is an Italian indoor rower and coach.
Michelle Sechser is an American rower. She competed in the women's lightweight double sculls event at the 2020 Summer Olympics. She competed at the 2024 Summer Olympics in the women's lightweight double sculls event.
Logan Ullrich is a New Zealand rower.