City rower strokes to indoor champs

WHILE pools were closed throughout 2020, Ebony Ebenwaldner got used to open water swimming in Lake Wendouree.

Once boat clubs got back on the water, swimming was no longer an option, but she didn’t want to give up the experience of being out in the middle of the lake completely.

“I thought, I better join the rowers. If I can’t beat them, join them,” she said.

At the age of 41, Ebenwaldner entered Ballarat City Rowing Club for the first time in October of 2020 and began learning to row.

“Rowing is similar to swimming in that there’s no distractions. When you’re on the water, there’s no phones, no emails, it’s you and your thoughts,” she said.

“I love how challenging it is as a sport physically, and how great it is mentally. You’re so focused on your technique that you don’t have to worry about the stresses of the world.”

As more lockdowns arrived and on-water training opportunities paused, Ebenwaldner decided to get her own indoor rowing machine, or ergometer, for home, and set her sights on competing at the Australian Indoor Rowing Championships.

“Because an indoor rower has all the data on it, when I was training, it gave me feedback,” she said.

“I could see where I was going to be placed compared to previous national results.”

Competing in the 40 to 49-year-old category of the AIRCs virtually, Ebenwaldner had her rowing machine plugged into a computer, and judges watching on a livestream.

She placed second in the 2000-metre time trial by 0.3 of a second, third in the 1000-metres, and fourth in the 500-metres.

Ebenwaldner is now set to compete in the 2022 World Indoor Rowing Championships later in the month, in the 500-metre and 2000-metre events. Originally planned for Hamburg, the World Champs will be held virtually due to COVID-19.

“I’m still a new rower, so this experience is about striving for a personal best time, seeing how far I can go, and making the most of this opportunity,” she said.

“I couldn’t have done this without my coach at Ballarat City, Grant McKechnie, who took me on from learn-to-row into the high-performance program.”

More broadly with her rowing, Ebenwaldner is training on the water for the National Rowing Championships in March, and the Masters season in April and May.