About the Talks “The open access to high performing rowing athletes and US rowing officials was invaluable. One can
never have enough information regarding the many avenues through which an athlete can enter the sport and
advance throughout its many channels. Not only were the information sessions laden with important information,
the connections made in the attendee seats were important as well. It's always good to be in a room with like-
minded individuals in pursuit of similar goals. Please do continue this portion of the event.”
About the Event “There was a lot of value to racing in the Personal Best Challenge. Even without being able to plug into any relay
teams, this allows individuals to stay engaged and be recognized by the surrounding rowing
community. Also again it was extremely important to have the ability to listen to very impactful speakers.”
“I really enjoyed the CIRC event this year. I especially liked how
you placed competitors together based on their race times rather than
ages. It's a great motivator, as those of us who are veteran/senior
rowers strive to best the times of the younger competitors, while the
young rowers don't want to be "shown up" by the older folks!”
Event Summary
349,500 Meters Rowed
49 Events199 Competitors
Do You Know Where you stand Nationally or Internationally?
There are currently 13,608 Internationally Ranked athletes whose 2K race times are posted on Concept2 for the 2018 current season ending April 30th, 2018. There are 26,374 athletes who have posted their 2K, 10K and 500 meter
timesfor the current season. CIRC2018 2K, 10K and 500 meter times have been sent to Concept2 and Row 2K for inclusion.
Racing was re-organized to maximize the numbers of personal records to be shattered. This years ranking
and racing grouped everyone based solely on their 2K seed times hence the Men 2K Seed Race and
the Women 2k Seed Race. When athletes took their seat, competitors on either side had similar seed times
whether they be a Junior or Collegiate, a Veteran or Master athlete. It was our hope that this would motivate
all athletes to outperform their ‘seed time’ and achieve a Personal Record. 83 Competitors - 42% - did just that and won their Personal Record Achievers Medal.
including
29 Personal Record Challenge Winners
After the dust settled, Medals were also awarded according to the traditional age categories. The following
PDFs show the 2K Results by age category along with PR & PR Challenge notations.
Hal Carlson (NCCTC): Veteran Men (65/65) = 07:05.8 (Prior: 08:03.1)
Taylor English (YQCRA): Junior Women = 07:00.8 (Prior: 07:20.4)
3 CIRC Event Records Broken
Women Emily Caffee (LPBC): Open 500 (Record Holder)= 01:36.3 (Prior: 01.36.8)
Men Shawn Bastic (Unaff): Open 500 (+30) = 01.21.4 (Prior: 01:24.0)
Gary Robinson (MilRC): Open 500 (+50) = 01.28.7 (Prior: 01:37.2)
5 CIRC Base Records Established
Women Sanja Stojakovic (WCDBC): Open 500 (+40) = 01:50.9
Stephanie Ascencio (WCDBC) Open 500 (+50) = 02:02.5
Theresa Marousek (WCDBC) Open 500 (+60) = 02:12.1
Middle School George Ashley (BISCSL) MS 500 (11) = 02:13.1
James Kohberger (BISCSL) MS 500 (12) = 02:22.6
Did You Know?
In the United States there are 1,476 athletes who have Verified 10K times posted on Concept2 for the 2018 season. There are 6,764 athletes posting 10K times worldwide verified and unverified.
Open & Junior Challenge Relays
All 7 relays –men and women- were run together creating an excitement level never before experienced in 19 years of CIRC. The battle between the Junior
Women of Y Quad Cities and the Collegiate Women of Illinois Rowing reached a fever pitch in the last 500 meters as both crews were neck-in- neck until
the Illini crew crossed the finish line 6th tenths of a second before Y Quad Cities..
Open Challenge Results: Women Illinois Rowing = 08.36.0 University of Chicago A Boat = 08:43.6 Lincoln Park Boat Club = 08:45.1 University of Chicago B Boat = 09:14.6 Men University of Chicago = 07:16.7 Illinois Rowing = 07:30.3
Junior Challenge Results Women Y Quad Cities = 08:36.6
Dragon/Paddling & CrossT Challenge Relays
These 6 relays were also run together creating the same intense atmosphere.
Dragon/Paddling Challenge Results Windy City DBC = 06:50.8
CrossT Challenge Results Lincoln Park CrossFit = 06:17.6
Did You Know?
There are 2 major Dragon Boat Races in the Chicago area. The June 23rd Chicago Dragon Boat Race for Literacy at Ping Tom Memorial Park uses the traditional ceremonial boats dating from the 278 BC, seats 18 paddlers along with drummer and flag
catcher. The July 28 th Chicago International Dragon Boat Festival taking place on Lake Arlington Park uses smaller boats
seating 20 paddlers plus the drummer without a ‘flag catcher’.
Learn more about the events:
Winner-Takes- All Medals are awarded to the fastest time in the following events
10,000 meter by age/weight/sex 2,000 meter by Event 1,000 meter by Event 500 meter Sprint by age/weight/sex All Relay Events: each member of the fastest Relay Team All Quad Events: each member of the fastest Quad 500 Middle-School:Gold, Silver & Bronze medals by grade/sex
Age/Categories Definitions
Veteran 50 yrs+ subdivided by 5 year increments if 3 or more competitors
Senior 40 yrs.+
Masters 30 yrs.+
Collegiate 24 yrs and under (or collegiate crew)
Open 18+ non-collegiate
Junior / Youth 18 yrs. and under (or in High School)
Middle School 6th through 8th grade
Our Heartfelt Thanks to all our Volunteers
Johnny Book Jr-Daniel Izguerra/CTC Alum Jose Tellez/CTC Alum Dr. Robert Szyman/CSU
Juan Carlos Richard Martinez/UIC Peter Sharis/YQCRC Vince Zamora/TRWB
Erin Chrusciel Curtis Miranda/CTC Alum Ed Stover & Ray Strata
Dara Grennan Steve Reyes/CTC Alum Dr. June Shingles/CSU
To Our Competitors / Coaches / Parents
CIRC continues to grow as a respected and anticipated annual event. This would not be possible
without the enthusiastic support from the individual competitors, coaches, volunteers and parents.
You made this a truly a pleasurable event to host.
A Special Thanks to Chicago State University
Especially to Dr. Robert J. Szyman and the CSU Department of Health, Physical Education and
Recreation and their continuing efforts to involve students not only as volunteers but also exposing
them to the world of adaptive athletics.
