About three weeks ago, we covered the Beach Sprints hosted by the Long Beach Rowing Association.  This competition put man/woman and machine against the clock in an effort to post a qualifying time in age and weight categories.

Rowbics Indoor Rowing Inc. sponsored some rowers in the Sprints, and one of them was 60-year-old Jill Ammirato.  The novice had only been rowing for four months, and after returning from a family vacation just a few days prior, she failed to qualify for the Crash-B’s, the inrdoor rowing championship, that are held in Boston this Sunday.

In true rowing fashion, Ammirato didn’t give up, and traveled down Interstate-5 last weekend to San Diego to try and qualify for the finals in Boston with a time of 8:23.6 or less.

“When I checked in, they told me I was going against some pretty good rowers,” said Ammirato.  “But when I was getting towards the end… I knew I had a chance, so I just put everything I had into that last little bit…”

And with a time of 8:23.1, Ammirato won her group and is now headed to Massachusetts.

“I’m just so shocked.  Going to Boston is just the icing on top.  I just want to make Rowbics proud.”

Ammirato got into rowing when she started working out at Rowbics, so instructor Jack Nunn and Todd Mehl, Rowbics Director of Marketing, were there to help her again after her amazing performance in San Diego.

Mehl contacted Long Beach legend and Olympian Joan Van Blom, and Ammirato and Van Blom have been working out every morning since, till Ammirato leaves for Boston today.

As LBSU crew coach Brian Counter put it during the Beach Sprints when Ammirato and Van Blom were rowing next to each other, “Not too many competitive sports can put those two athletes side-by-side.”
 
Come back next week to find out how Ammitato did in the Indoor Rowing “Super Bowl”