Katie Wins C.R.A.S.H.-B’s!

On March 7, 2021 BCR’s very own Katie Walker logged in from her computer in Colorado and won C.R.A.S.H.-B’s Women’s Masters A division. The virtual format of the race allowed Katie to compete from Boulder in a year when she otherwise would not have travelled to Boston. While training with BCR and following Coach Vee’s training plan, Katie had been pulling PR’s, and thought she could be a contender in the indoor championships. Her raw race time of 7:18.0 proved that conviction correct. 

C.R.A.S.H.-B. Sprints is the International World Indoor Rowing Championships held in Boston, MA.

On the day of the race, Katie’s husband took their kids, a 4-year-old and a 7-month-old, outside to play as Katie got ready to race from her home erging setup. Similarly to the in-person event, competitors could see each other and their relative locations on the screen. Unlike previous years, though, there was no high-energy environment or adrenaline created by sitting directly next to your competitors. To counteract this, Katie relied on playing music through speakers instead of wearing headphones. 

Katie felt good through the first 1,500 meters and held off the rower behind her. In the last 500 meters, she took the race 100 meters at a time to get to the finish line. While the organizing committee provided a 10 second handicap to those competing above 5,400 feet to account for the impacts of altitude, Katie won outright. 

In the last year, Katie has transitioned to working from home and gave birth to her daughter. She says BCR’s virtual practices provided the normalcy of seeing teammates and training together, even if in a virtual environment. On both BCR practice days and non-practice days, Katie ergs in the morning before her kids wake up. She continued to erg through pregnancy, erging the day before giving birth, and returned to the erg only 6 days later. Shortly before the race, Katie hit the 2 million meter mark since giving birth (yes, you read that correctly!). 

Success at C.R.A.S.H.-B’s is no stranger to Katie’s family. When Katie and her sister began rowing in high school, their mother took up erging and placed 2nd in C.R.A.S.H.-B’s. Katie, who pulled a 7:18 PR (raw time without the altitude handicap), has her eyes set on her mother’s 7:10 time from 2009. And who knows, Katie’s son has already medaled at one indoor rowing race, so maybe he’ll follow in his mother and grandmother’s footsteps! 

Denver Indoor Rowing Championships, the first day of Katie’s second trimester

Katie has been rowing with BCR for two years since moving to Boulder from Charlottesville, VA. She rowed for the University of Virginia, Xavier Crew, and Tempe Junior Crew.