In 1983 Allan came 8 th in the cult global competition World's Strongest Man and was one of only six competitiors to complete a dead lift over the ‘magic' 1000lb (455kg).
After a stint at Tinwald Cycling Club, Allan moved to Wikanae in 1996 and got involved in some endurance races (Taupo, Mt Taranaki and Rotorua to Taupo) and ended up competing in duathlons. Jump forward to 2005 and during training Allan got injured and badly tore a calf muscle and wasn't able to run for months so he used the rowing machine for warm ups as he could still cycle.
Allan says “after a few weeks I was bragging about a 5km row I had just completed and one of the guys said that there are races for indoor rowing and never being one to shirk from a challenge, I asked how to get into it and I was sent the Concept 2 2000m training schedule.”
Allan entered all three distances in 2005: 5,000, 10,000m and the One Hour at the Long Distance Championships and did quite well. His times were pretty good (17mins 36secs, 36mins 09 secs and 16,179m respectively) and he decided to enter two further races and came out with a New Zealand record for the 300m race for 49.1 seconds.
Allan then says “I guess I lost interest in racing and enjoyed sitting on the rower and sweating it out so from October 2005 until February 2006 I would average about 100,000 to 110,000m per week maybe doing three half marathons per week which improved my hour row. I would set myself up with my MP3, fan, drink bottle and just row.”
“Then in February 2006 my enthusiasm was rekindled by Marian Deakin who mentioned the CTC Challenge which is an international rowing team challenge with different challenges every month, so I joined the same team as Marian - the “Forum Flyers”. Since 1st May 2005 I have clocked up 7.8 million metres and should reach the big 8 Million by the end of March. I currently average between 80,000m to 90,000m per week with the next target being the Nationals in May, then the Worlds in September.
In the world rankings list for 2006/7 I still lead the one hour row with 16,873m, there are a few 2nds (including a half marathon time of 1hr 15mins and 56secs) and 3rds as well and also at the 2007 NZ Masters Games in Wanganui I came second in the 1000m with a personal best of 3m10.8, first in the 500m with 1m 26.8, first in the 300m with 48.4secs (breaking my 2005 New Zealand record) and first in the men's and mixed pairs so I have had a really good year.
“I have found rowing to be great for my fitness and weight management while I have been using it. I actually read somewhere, tongue in cheek of course, that it was referred to as "the poor man's liposuction", a great statement. I have also promoted it to others as a great cross trainer for other sporting codes”.
Allan's advice to anyone starting out in indoor rowing is: “firstly don't put in a fixed time or distance, set it to "just row". Secondly, don't go out too hard as the first few minutes are to get into a rhythm with both the slide and breathing and most of all be relaxed and thirdly, the power comes from the leg drive and not the arm pull. Better still, pick a machine with a flat battery so there is no read out. Sometimes on a long row (one hour plus), I turn the computer away and just work on technique with a slow stroke rate, which works for me”.
When we asked Allan about his 2007 targets, he told us: “They are to improve on all my times. I want to break 6m 30 for the 2km. I haven't raced this distance since 2005 so it is long overdue, and eventually I want to compete at Boston in 2008/2009”.
Asking Allan how his family feels about him spending so much time on the machine, he says “Both my wife and 14 year old son, Frazer, have got interested in rowing as well. Frazer went with me to the World Champs and won all his races. The kudos he got from school mates especially after the local rag featured an article about him, his self cofidence has grown leaps and bounds. He is quite tall and once made the statement that he didn't want to stand out, now he stands tall and gets into a lot of other school activities. He joined the music club and is now playing the drums, and there was no way this would have happened last year”
We wish Allan and his family the best of luck for their 2007 targets and look forward to him representing New Zealand at the CRASH B's in the near future!
