AIRC25 wrap: one event, many ways in

For nine days, the soundtrack was the same in school gyms, studios and living rooms: flywheel hum, a called split, a fist bump. A junior warming up in one lane, a masters rower settling into the next. The erg has a reputation as the loneliest machine in the gym. AIRC25 spent nine days proving the opposite.

AIRC25 was Australia’s national indoor rowing championship window, run from 25 October to 2 November. Competitors raced on Concept2 RowErgs in homes, clubs, gyms, schools and in-person hubs, and every entry fed one national leaderboard: 414 participants, 73 affiliations, 1,156,968 metres logged. This wrap collects the whole event: hub stories, school squads, records, the affiliation podium and the AWP Stack. One leaderboard, many ways in.

Want the numbers first? Browse the full AIRC25 results.

“AIRC25 was a great event - really well organised and a format that let people do their absolute best. I hit big PBs in both the 1k and 2k at the UTS hub with coaches and coxes in my corner. It did not feel like training alone on an erg, it felt like being part of a team.”

Dave Allen, Row Club UTS and St George Rowing Club

AIRC25 by the numbers

• 414 unique participants
• 73 affiliations across schools, clubs, gyms, squads and independents
• 1,156,968 metres logged
• 1,073 individual entries: 286 over 2,000 m, 248 over 1,000 m, 247 over 500 m and 292 in the 1-Minute
• 55 official relay teams

Busiest day: Saturday 25 October (AEDT), with 220 entries. Peak hour: 15:00 to 16:00 AEDT, with 144 entries.

Gyms and Row Clubs: how it felt on the floor

Row Clubs and independent studios did the invisible work in the lead-up to AIRC25. They taught technique, ran race simulations, opened at odd hours and turned small rooms into national stages.

Sunshine Coast Indoor Rowing Club: relay first, medals second

At the Sunshine Coast hub at The Sports Hub, Bokarina, SCIRC turned entries into a proper club day. The standout was the Mixed Masters relay, where Adam Jackson, Karen Van Rensburg, Dianne McGrath and Grant Clonan lined up together and won gold.

“The Mixed Masters SCIRC relay was the highlight of the day at our hub at the Sports Hub at Bokarina. The team of Adam Jackson, Karen Van Rensburg, Dianne McGrath and Grant Clonan won gold and rowed brilliantly. President, Wendy Coghill, and Head Coach, Rob Cossalter, put a huge effort into the successful running of the Sunshine Coast Indoor Rowing Club.”

Wendy Coghill, President, Sunshine Coast Indoor Rowing Club

SCIRC combined volume and results:

• 17 members
• 64 attempts
• 51,792 metres
• 47 medals: 23 gold, 14 silver, 10 bronze

ERGfit Indoor Rowing (Footscray): small studio, big intent

ERGfit had just come off the Australian Masters Games in Canberra. A week later they were back on the ergs, running AIRC25 across five separate sessions.

“ERGfit opened its doors on Saturday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday so that members had ample opportunities to race. Some members said they would be keen to race again because doing it at our home studio felt very comfortable and not intimidating at all.”

Tamara Riddell, ERGfit Indoor Rowing

Tamara’s short list of moments tells its own story:

• Being there to watch Richard Tomlinson break the Men 60 to 64 2,000 m world record (claim pending verification)
• Two women in the 70 to 74 age group racing indoors for the first time
• 1-Minute races that turned the room up another notch as the floor counted the closing seconds

For first-timer Mark McCrossin, the hub setting made the difference.

“First time competitor in AIRC25 and it was really enjoyable. I particularly liked being at a hub because I was fed by the energy of the other participants and it was great to meet them. The participants are all ages, which is so pleasing to see. I chose ERGfit and Tamara was only too happy to give pointers on how best to approach each event. Still learning the trade.”

Mark McCrossin, ERGfit Indoor Rowing

ERGfit’s headline numbers:

• 12 members
• 37 attempts
• 25,633 metres
• 26 medals: 12 gold, 10 silver, 4 bronze

Wentworth District Rowing Club: nine athletes, whole-club effort

Wentworth District Rowing Club showed how far a small regional squad can reach. Nine members on the start list rowed 23,945 metres between them. That placed the club 9th of 73 affiliations for distance and 10th for overall AWP points on 19,383.5.

Their results cut across age, gender and boat class. Juniors Riley and Tom Parker, Matilda Morrow and Drew Vagg lined up alongside masters athletes Flo and Darren Howard, Cathryn Dawes, Chrisso Boseley and Mollie Boyton. Between them they produced 15 podium finishes across the 2k, 1k, 500 m and 1-Minute events, including lightweight and open categories.

The highlight was a clean sweep of team racing. The Female Masters 40+ relay of Flo Howard, Cathryn Dawes, Mollie Boyton and Chrisso Boseley took gold in the 4 x 500 m. The Mixed U19 crew of Tom and Riley Parker, Drew Vagg and Matilda Morrow claimed bronze.

Row Club in Haberfield: a gateway to the sport

At UTS, Row Club sessions turned social media curiosity into a long-term habit for athletes like Dave Allen. He first walked in looking for better technique and a way to chase 100 m speed in the gym. What kept him there was coaching that respected old injuries, and a clear path to improvement.

“AIRC25 gave me something specific to work toward. The format and support at the UTS hub meant I could really test myself. Those PBs in the 1k and 2k were not just numbers, they were proof that all the technical work is paying off.”

Dave Allen

Since AIRC25, Dave has joined St George Rowing Club and has his sights set on becoming a competitive masters rower on the water.

Want that kind of corner for your next race? Find a Row Club class near you.

Schools spotlight: juniors making noise

AIRC25 confirmed what many coaches already know. Indoor rowing is becoming a regular tool for schools to set culture, build season benchmarks and give juniors a visible target.

Across the window:

• Canberra Grammar School (ACT) logged 224,000 metres from 80 students across 130 attempts, and collected 17 medals (5 gold, 5 silver, 7 bronze).
• Loreto College (SA) recorded 128,689 metres from 39 students across 142 attempts, and took home 22 medals (6 gold, 8 silver, 8 bronze).
• CGGS (ACT) added 31,500 metres from 19 students, with 9 medals and strong mixed relay representation.
• Radford College (ACT) and Trinity College WA delivered sharp relay efforts and U16 depth.

At Loreto, coaches used AIRC25 to anchor the season. They set dedicated race blocks during the window, used the event as a benchmark for female school rowing, and kept the bench involved in every race. With names like Eugenie, Natalie, Ava and Ruby lining up in U16 events, the metres and medals became a visible marker of how their culture travels from the shed into competition.

In Canberra, CGS, CGGS, Radford and Marist treated the event as both stand-alone racing and rehearsal for the Golden Oar festival to come. Juniors who had never raced on water in front of a crowd got that experience on ergs first.

Thinking about erg racing for your school? See how Row Club works.

Golden Oar meets AIRC25: lakeside relay, festival energy

Canberra’s new Golden Oar festival gave AIRC25 a public stage. On the Saturday at Black Mountain Peninsula, twenty Concept2 RowErgs were lined up lakeside for the AIRC25 Row Nation Erg Relay, presented as part of the Golden Oar programme.

The mixed 4 x 500 m relay paired Rowsellas and New Zealand internationals with students from Canberra Grammar, Canberra Girls Grammar, Marist and Radford. Each team blended experience and youth. Strategy in changeovers mattered as much as raw power.

Front of the field:

• AUS / CGS 1: Patty Long, Katie Easton, Alexander Griffiths, Addison Perry in 6:06.4
• NZL / MAR / CGGS 1: Ben Mason, Lucy Spoors, Mitchell Wadie, Charlotte Bowen in 6:09.9
• AUS / RAD 2: Jackson Free, Giorgia Patten, William Fraser, Kate Colyer in 6:11.3
• NZL / AUS / MAR / CGGS 1: Logan Ullrich, Georgie Rowe, Fraser Smith, Grace Disney in 6:11.3

Average splits sat in the low 1:30s. The bigger story was how quickly juniors stepped into a high-pressure environment beside national-team athletes.

Read Rowing Australia’s full Golden Oar recap for the festival’s wider story.

Records and milestones

Richard Tomlinson: moving the Men 60 to 64 standard

Racing out of ERGfit, Richard Tomlinson delivered a 2,000 m that was all business from the first ten strokes to the closing 250 m.

• 2,000 m: 6:17.8 (world record claim pending Concept2 verification)

“Indoor rowing has been a reliable, complete and accessible way to look after my physical and mental health, and a good example for my kids. Competing is my yearly report card and a way to connect with others.”

Richard Tomlinson

Nathan Couper: headlining the middle distance

For Aussie Roos athlete Nathan Couper in Men 40 to 44, AIRC25 became a clean sweep of all distances. He opened fast, held his shape in the middle and closed hard.

• 2,000 m: 6:06.7
• 1,000 m: 2:47.0
• 500 m: 1:14.4
• 1-Minute: 414 m

All four sit at the sharp end of AIRC history and have been flagged against the championship record list.

Other standouts

• Ebony Ebenwaldner (Ballarat City Rowing Club, Women 45 to 49): 1,000 m in 3:27.5 and 500 m in 1:37.4. Clean, repeatable speed that turned training detail into racing outcomes.
• Olive L. (Ballarat City Rowing Club, U19): 2,000 m in 7:14.4. A composed junior 2k that had coaches talking about what comes next, not just what had just been done.

These headliners sit alongside dozens of personal bests filed quietly in hubs and garages. Not every milestone was a record. Plenty were a first honest 2k, or a first time lining up in a relay.

Colours on the podium: affiliations snapshot

Medals give one view of AIRC25. They show which colours and communities kept appearing on the podium across nine days of racing. Relay medals are counted once for the teams that earned them, and individual medals are credited to each athlete’s listed affiliation.

To keep the snapshot focused on organised squads, the table lists the top twenty affiliations by points, excluding Independent entries. Points use a simple 3-2-1 system (3 for gold, 2 for silver, 1 for bronze), with ties broken by total medals, then gold, then silver.

Rank	Affiliation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total	Points
1	Sunshine Coast Indoor Rowing Club	23	14	10	47	107
2	Aussie Roos	16	6	2	24	62
3	ERGfit Indoor Rowing	12	10	4	26	60
4	Loreto College	6	8	8	22	42
5	Diamonds Over 60s Erging Group	14	0	0	14	42
6	Newcastle Rowing Club	9	4	1	14	36
7	Canberra Grammar School	5	5	7	17	32
8	Runcorn Rowing Club	5	4	7	16	30
9	Hawthorn Rowing Club	7	3	2	12	29
10	Wentworth District Rowing Club	3	6	6	15	27
11	Sub7IRC	3	6	4	13	25
12	Team Oarsome	7	1	1	9	24
13	LFG	5	3	0	8	21
14	We Are Invictus	4	4	0	8	20
15	CGGS	3	3	3	9	18
16	Ballarat City Rowing Club	5	0	0	5	15
17	Curtin University Boat Club	4	0	0	4	12
18	CVK Praha	4	0	0	4	12
19	Dragons Rowing Club	4	0	0	4	12
20	Fitness Matters	4	0	0	4	12

Independent competitors, who raced without a listed club or school, still had a major presence. Together they earned 70 medals (32 gold, 25 silver, 13 bronze), underlining how many athletes entered AIRC25 on their own and still landed repeatedly on the podium.

The all-rounders: the AWP Stack

Raw times still matter. But AIRC25 also introduced Adjusted Work Points (AWP) as a common currency for effort. AWP starts with a physics-based Work Points score from distance and time, then applies published age and gender factors, and a lightweight factor where meet rules allow.

The rule of thumb is simple: best 2k AWP + best 1k AWP + best 500 m AWP + best 1-Minute AWP = Total AWP. That lets juniors, masters, men, women and lightweight athletes appear on the same fair leaderboard.

AWP Stack: top 10

Overall stacked AWP across the 2k, 1k, 500 m and 1-Minute. Full leaderboards: AIRC25 results.

#	Athlete	Category	Club	AWP	2k / 1k / 500 / 1-min
1	Richard T.	Male Masters 60-64	None / Independent	4544.7	2139.0 / 1185.8 / 695.8 / 524.0
2	Justine R.	Female Masters 55-59 (LW)	Fitness Matters	4411.7	2191.9 / 1175.8 / 640.5 / 403.6
3	Nathan C.	Male Masters 40-44	Aussie Roos	4405.1	1904.0 / 1147.5 / 722.7 / 630.8
4	Bonnie T.	Female Masters 55-59	Newcastle Rowing Club	4256.7	1963.9 / 1134.5 / 673.7 / 484.5
5	Jeff A.	Male Masters 60-64 (LW)	Team Oarsome	4197.1	1795.6 / 1082.0 / 737.3 / 582.1
6	Mary-Ann M.	Female Masters 55-59 (LW)	None / Independent	4176.3	2030.0 / 1122.6 / 631.5 / 392.2
7	Stephen B.	Male Masters 55-59	Runcorn Rowing Club	4169.9	1916.9 / 1088.5 / 657.4 / 507.1
8	David R.	Male Masters 40-44	Top Tuggers Indoor Rowing Team	4169.6	1831.0 / 1082.6 / 666.2 / 589.8
9	David P.	Male Masters 50-54	LFG	4168.1	1856.6 / 1094.3 / 672.7 / 544.5
10	Ebony E.	Female Masters 45-49	Ballarat City Rowing Club	4114.6	1961.3 / 1092.9 / 620.0 / 440.5

Three storylines from the Stack:

• No. 1 overall, Independent: Richard Tomlinson. Four events, one standard. Richard’s AWP total shows how a masters athlete can stay competitive across distances when training is consistent and well planned.
• Lightweight in the top five: Justine Reston. As a Women 55 to 59 lightweight racing for Fitness Matters, Justine proved that LW athletes are not just making weight. They are holding their own on the global performance scale.
• Open athlete juggling life: Daniel Bain (Primal Functional Fitness). Outside the top 10 but embedded in the top AWP bracket, Daniel’s Men 30 to 39 score reflects the reality for many: work, family, training, and a single week carved out to see how far he can push.

Curious how the maths works? Read the AWP explainer.

One index, many lanes

AIRC25 did not need slogans about inclusion. The entry list, age brackets and stories from the floor showed how many lanes already exist.

The lightweight who found a lane: Mary-Ann Millar

For Mary-Ann Millar (Women 55 to 59 LW, Independent), lightweight rowing is about fairness and adaptation.

“When you arrive at the start line, everyone appears to have the same equipment. You can assume we have all trained hard and shown commitment. The race then reveals who found the right balance, who can execute under pressure, and who wants it more on the day.

My last erg race was AIRC 2020. Now, navigating menopause, I am a different athlete who has had to experiment, adapt and let go of what no longer works. One simple framework that keeps me going came from my friend Guin Batten: set goals, make a plan, do the plan, review, repeat. It is simple, but it stops me drifting when training feels hard.“

Mary-Ann Millar, Independent

Her AIRC25 results sit inside the overall AWP top bracket and give her a clear set of lessons for the next phase.

The independent who became a team: Kate Jones

Kate Jones (Women 30 to 39, Independent) found AIRC25 through a work colleague and quickly realised that “Independent” did not mean alone.

“I found the opportunity to connect with others through a work colleague who introduced me to the challenge of AIRC25. Having someone to discuss which events we were attempting each day made the experience really positive. I loved watching the Independent results adding up and trying to beat my own times to lift our team up the rankings against club athletes.”

Kate Jones

The masters who still show up: Swan Athletic

At Swan Athletic, older athletes used AIRC25 as a shared goal.

“I was very proud to represent Swan Athletic along with some fellow older ladies at AIRC25. We had fun participating as well as trying to achieve our best times. Our major accountability trick was having our trainer, and helpful onlookers, believe in us completely. A special moment was realising our achievement after finishing the team relay.”

Julie Clough, Swan Athletic

Swan Athletic’s medal return reflects that commitment:

• 2 members
• 5 attempts
• 6 medals (1 gold, 4 silver, 1 bronze)

What comes next: pick your way in

AIRC25 connected school squads, studios, independents and high-performance athletes in one event. The obvious question is how to keep going once the leaderboard closes. Pick the door that fits.

Train with Row Nation Premium

Guided row-along workouts led by Rowing Australia athletes are available in Row Nation Premium: four structured six-week programmes, three sessions a week, each with a clear finish line.

• Technique First: learn the sequence, breathe better, row smoother.
• Foundations & Flow: low strain, high consistency. An ideal re-entry, and a fit for rowers 50 plus.
• Rapid Reset: short, punchy sessions for busy weeks.
• Power & Pace: thresholds, sprints and smart preparation for a five minute test or race piece.

Row Nation Premium is subscription-based with a free trial, so you can test which programme fits your current season.

Read the Premium programmes guide →

Row Club: train in person

For people who want coaching, structure and a room that pulls them along, Row Clubs are the simplest entry point.

• Join a Row Club class near you
• Start a Row Club at your own venue and plug into Row Nation’s programme library and event calendar

Race under the Aussie Roos

For athletes who enjoyed AIRC25 and want regular targets, the Aussie Roos are a simple next step: an open composite crew and indoor rowing community for anyone who wants to keep racing virtually. They compete monthly in worldwide events, and joining puts you alongside some of the best indoor and on-water rowers in Australia.

For more information, find them on Instagram at @_aussieroos or email aussieroos@outlook.com.

The same beat

The flywheel hum has faded and the leaderboard is locked. What it leaves behind is simpler than a medal tally: hundreds of people who now know exactly where they stand. Your AIRC25 number is not a verdict. It is a start line. Pick a programme, book a class or circle the next race, and be further along when the sound starts up again.

Start your next block in the Row Nation app →