PUT Dirk and Merriel Stobbe anywhere near a rowing machine and they’re a formidable combination.
They are both Australian indoor rowing champions in the 80-84 and 75-79 age categories, respectively.
Their championship medals came last November, adding to their haul at the Australian Masters Games in Tasmania a month earlier. All up, they’ve won about 60 indoor rowing medals between them.
Overseen by Rowing Australia, the national championships run over two weekends, with competitors attending centres in their home states to compete in one or more of the 500m, 1000m, 2000m and one-minute events.
Merriel admits she wasn’t hopeful after her November performance. She and Dirk had been delayed travelling from Geelong to Melbourne to compete.
“I’d trained for the event but was a gibbering mess when we got there and ended up being disappointed in my times,” she said.
But she still won gold. Merriel and Dirk topped the times in their age groups for the three distances.
Dirk was ranked in the top three in the world for his age. Now 81, he’s still in the top five and number two in Australia.
He took to indoor rowing about 12 years ago and quickly made his mark. A phys ed teacher in his working life, he was no stranger to top level sporting competition.
He was born and raised in The Netherlands – on a West Frisian island in the North Sea called Terschelling. Through ongoing contact with a family in New Zealand, he had an opportunity to visit there in the late 1950s.
“I was on an adventure, working and seeing new places. I played soccer in New Zealand, and was invited to Melbourne in 1959 to play state league for Wilhelmina, a team full of Dutch players,” Dirk said.
“I was paid six pounds a week, which was big money for soccer back then – my teaching wage was about 20 pounds a week.”
After five years in the league he broke his leg, which ended his football career, but over the decades he continued to love sport and keeping fit.
“I came to indoor rowing in 2006. I weighed 85kg and 10 years later was 75kg, but hadn’t changed my diet or lifestyle over that time; I just trained hard and competed.
“So I know indoor rowing is good for losing weight. But it has so many other advantages, particularly for older people. It’s low impact, your whole body gets a workout and you don’t ache after any physical exertion.”
Merriel added: “And you don’t have to push yourself – you can do it at your own pace.”
The pair row at Barwon Rowing Club, which, like all centres in Victoria, is keen to raise indoor rowing’s profile and see more people participate.
