500 m row contest
- Winner
- Fastest time
- Measured in
- Time
- Boards
- Gym, city, country, world
Your fastest 500 m on an indoor rowing machine, from a standstill, with the monitor in view for the whole take. The time the monitor shows at 500 m is your result, ranked on your gym, city, country and world boards at once.
The rules
What counts
- An air or magnetic indoor rowing machine with a monitor that shows distance and time.
- The monitor set to a 500 m piece, starting from a standstill.
- Any damper or resistance setting.
- The time shown on the monitor when the 500 m is done.
What doesn’t count
- A rolling start, or strokes taken before the monitor is reset.
- Bike ergs, ski ergs or water rowers with no distance on the monitor.
- A take where the monitor is out of view or cannot be read at the end.
How to film it
- Place the phone to the side and slightly behind, so your body and the monitor screen are both in frame.
- Check before you start that the numbers on the monitor are readable on the video.
- Start recording before your first stroke, with the monitor showing 500 m.
A 500 m row is short enough to go hard from the first stroke and long enough that pacing it badly costs you seconds. It suits almost anyone: it is low impact, and the machine does the measuring.
How it works
Set the monitor to a 500 m piece and prop your phone so it sees you and the screen. Start recording, sit ready with the monitor at 500 m, then go. The monitor counts down the distance and shows your time when it reaches zero. That time is your result. Keep recording until the final time is on screen.
Your result is ranked on every board you qualify for: your gym, your city, your country and the world, with age group, sex and weight class brackets. The age brackets mean a fast 60-year-old shows up near the top of their own group instead of somewhere down the open board.
Who checks the time
The automatic check confirms the video is unbroken and that the monitor runs from the start of the piece to the end. Anyone can flag a take. When a take lands in a top 10 or sets a record, a referee checks the reset, the start and the final time on the monitor. If it is not counted you see the reason and the timestamp, and you can appeal to a different referee.
Getting your time down
Power comes from the legs first, then the body swing, then the arms. Learn that order before you chase speed. Train with short intervals such as 100 to 250 m hard with full rest, and plenty of easy rowing between those days. Test the 500 m again every few weeks, and pace the first 100 m slightly below flat out.
Questions
Does the damper setting matter?
It changes how the stroke feels, not the distance. Choose any setting. Most rowers go faster at a middle setting than at the heaviest one.
Can I use any brand of rowing machine?
Yes, as long as the monitor shows distance and elapsed time. The app records the machine you used.
Why does the monitor need to be in frame the whole time?
The referee reads the result off the monitor, so it has to be visible from the first stroke to the last.
