Sunshine Coaster Cristin Smith loves to row, it’s a passion that has taken her all the way to winning a swag full of medals at the State and National titles and now five at the recent Pan Pacific Masters Games on the Gold Coast.
But surprisingly, the one place this passion hasn’t taken the rowing enthusiast is out on to the water.
You see Cristin Smith is a champion indoor rower which means she can be found in the gym and not on a river or lake and her craft of choice is a rowing machine.
Cristin, a teacher and grand mother, is a member of Sunshine Coast Indoor Rowing which meets at the Sports Hub 02 gym at Lake Kawana each Saturday morning.
“Our oldest club member is 95 and they still regularly competes and the youngest members are in early high school.
“We also cater for a range of adapted athletes. Blind, intellectually impaired and physically impaired. Who all recently won medals.
“People don’t realise we’ve got kids and disabled members. Our oldest member couldn’t do the Pan Pacs rowing because he was in the swimming events at the same time. That was his reason for not doing it, not that my back hurts or my big toes sore but because I’m swimming.”
Cristin returned from Pan Pacs with four silver and a gold.
Her gold came in the two- kilometre event.
“That distance wasn’t really my focus but when I think about it, I am really a distance person,” she said.
“The others were 500metres, the next day we had the one kilometre, the 100m and the one minute. We also had a relay which is very amusing to watch because you lock your feet in but you’ve got to get them out and the next person in.
“We compete on times except for the one minute where it’s how many metres you can row in a minute.”
The racing resembles the water version with 12 people all lined up on rowing machines with a huge screen.
“We’re all numbered and there’s a don’t row now with a red circle and a line through it – like stop and then it will go – hold your handles – then ready set and then go and then you do your plan or bust a gut.
“People do what works for them.
“As that’s happening, the boats are moving across the big screen and they change places depending on who’s first, second or third.”
A diabetes diagnosis drove Cristin to take the sport up – mainly at the suggestion of her uncle who is a champion road walker.
She moved onto rowing thanks to her Uncle, a champion road walker.
“There was a lady who set all the records at the Masters Games – Liz Feldman – she’s uncle’s girlfriend.
“She had some injuries and he said to her why don’t you take up indoor rowing and she did and she’s smashing all the records.
“Then he got me into it because I was retreating to my little cave, my house and not really meeting people which is just not me.
“He said you need to get out there – you row and you hear all these voices encouraging you. It puts a little smile on your dial as it’s happening.”
Encouragement from the rowing community was what sent her off to the Master’s Games.
“They just said are you going to enter and I thought, why not, what excuse have I got to not enter, it is a bit of financial thing but I thought who knows if I’m going to be here in a year’s time, so it was pretty much do it now and have the memory – if don’t get dementia.
“I had four kids and I wasn’t doing much exercise but then I was diagnosed as diabetic. So the drive was to put in the effort and burn off what eat but then I just started enjoying moving a lot, the freedom of flexibility and being able to get all of the air in your lungs.”
Ironically Cristin, who was born in Victoria and lived in Fiji and WA, was actually a swimmer from a young age and picked it up again and when she reached the master’s age group.
“As a kid my grandfather made us learn to swim because his twin brother drowned so he wanted to make sure we could swim,” she said.
“The second hot pool in Victoria opened up when I was young and my mum, uncle and myself went over every Saturday morning to learn how to swim – I took to it like a fish water.”
She swam less as she got older before picking it up again in WA.
“When moved over here and did the first Mujimba Island swim, the first year that the public did it,” Cristin laughed.
“I think I’m part dolphin as well but now I can row and not get wet.
“However I’d never heard of indoor rowing as a sport until my Uncle told me about it, I just thought it was a fitness machine not that there were actual international competition.”
“I didn’t’ know it existed but now I’m a member of the club here on the coast at the O2 at Kawana.”
“As well taking up rowing, Cristin who also loves to walk, has taken up dancing something she enjoys at Kawana at Genisis on a Tuesday and then a lovely lady by the same name as me has classes at Mujimba community hall on a Saturday morning. And I thought I have to give up my Saturday morning, I love to sleep in.
“I went the first time and I thought – this is worth getting out of bed for.”
“I did the dancing because I had goals on my mirror to learn salsa, to learn the Bahasa language and I can’t remember what the other one was – oh wait prepare to walk the Camino trail.
“And I’ve hit two goals this year and I’d forgotten the little sticky notes were there but my daughter said – I’m so glad you’re dancing because you’ve had that paper on the wall for so long. I love it.”
If you’d like to know more about Indoor Rowing contact Sunshine Coast Indoor Rowing President Wendy on 0412230718.
