Rick Kranen blitzed the recent Pan Pacific Master’s Games on the Goldie, winning a scullful of medals including 10 gold, 2 silver and a bronze for colour. Rick trains five or six days a week in his new craft, sponsored by Swift Racing Scull on the Tweed River. Photo Tree Faerie.

Rick Kranen, a local rower based in Murwillumbah, has recently signed a sponsorship deal with international boat building company, Swift Racing Shells.
Rick who is a sports fitness consultant and developer of RowQuickAustralia, is a provider of training information and programs specific to rowers. Rick is a keen rower with a strong desire to help other rowers row quicker but he is also a relative newcomer to the sport.
This is Rick’s second time around as he rowed as a schoolboy more than 25 years ago, but had not done much rowing since.
Apart from events like the Pan Pacs, competition in the Northern Rivers region is hard to come by and since taking up the sport, Rick found that racing the 17 year olds was the most rewarding.

Rowing requires long hours of dedication building and maintaining the conditioning required to withstand that short burst of maximum effort.
As a novice sculler at the beginning of the 2006/7 season, not only did Rick learn how to scull, but  won the Australian National Masters Rowing Championships in Sydney in that same year. That particular regatta was the largest rowing event held within Australia with over 1500 participants.
Rick also cleaned up at the recent Pan Pacific Masters Games held on the Gold Coast winning more medals than you could shake a scull oar at, a whopping 10 gold, 2 silver  and a bronze, ( becasue he didn;t have that colour), and a clean sweep of the indoor rowing.

Rick believes that rowing is a sport unparalleled by any other. ‘You are required to travel at an anaerobic threshold for the duration of the event,’ he says. ‘It starts in an anaerobic state and you need to quickly transfer into your aerobic state or else you ‘blow up’, and often finish in a completely spent anaerobic state again. Rowing uses around 82% of the muscles of the body and is a great way to stay in shape.’
When you add together the actual race distance and the row to the starting line, Rick travelled over 50 kilometres during the course of the Pan Pacs, that’s not something you do without a solid and carefully planned preparation.

Rick was spotted by Swift earlier this year after becoming Australian C Grade Master Rowing Champion for the second year running.
A racing scull costs upward of $8,000. This sport is not for the faint hearted and requires maximal effort from an athlete for over three and a half minutes.
Rick approached Swift Racing Shells about the possibility of sponsorship. They wanted to back someone who is successful and likely to help show case their products.

Club sculls weigh about 20kg and are too heavy for racing effectively and Rick wished to be independent of the club sculls and have the opportunity to race a true 14kg racing scull.
The difference in weight is significant in the first part of the race where acceleration of a lighter boat is a distinct advantage.
‘I can now train exclusively in one boat which will give me greater freedom to participate in regattas,’ said Rick. ‘I am very happy to have been given this terrific opportunity and especially appreciate the support Pierre van der Poel, director of Swift Racing has given to me. Normally this kind of sponsorship is only offered to elite athletes of Olympics or world standard calibre.’

The boat has already proven itself in Murwillumbah’s latest regatta where Rick Kranen recently won a hotly contested race against competitors less than half his age.
 

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