Mo takes on the 2019 Mizuno British Rowing Indoor Championships

One of our athletes, Mohamed Elfeky, took part in the 2019 Mizuno British Rowing Indoor Championships and ranked sixth out of dozens of competitors. This is a prestigious indoor event, where thousands of competitors, from international athletes to beginners with potential, compete on the ergo over 500m or 2,000m or take part in the fast and furious 4,000m team relay.

It took place on Saturday 7 December 2019 at the Lee Valley Velo Park in London. After holding it here for the first time in 2018, where over 1,800 rowers took to the race floor, 2019 was set to be bigger and better than ever before - it did not fail to impress. Mo is an international student from Egypt and is part of Liverpool University’s elite athlete scheme which offers athletes exemption from gym fees and supplies them with immediately accessible mental, physical and medical support. He is an asset to our club, with a wealth of experience after rowing for years at a club in Egypt called Kahraba Rowing Club, for which he trained rigorously on the Nile.

Mo did not attend Rutherford Head on the Tyne that weekend with the rest of the club and instead independently travelled from Liverpool to London to compete against rowers of his own standard. He entered the 500m Open Men’s category and his overall ranking was 6th out of around 50 competitors, with a fantastic score of 1:19.2 seconds. To prepare for such a specific event, training needs to be efficient and much time needs to be dedicated to heavy weight training, followed by a good nutritional food plan. In terms of mental preparation, Mo had to compose a race plan of how he was going to attack the 500 metres, figuring out what worked best for him.

He explained how hard it was to keep achieving personal bests, stating: “Whilst I was training I had to visualise myself breaking my own scores each time and somehow put it into action.” Despite having a hip flexor and neck injury, he still managed to place very well. Being surrounded by many Olympic rowers, he describes the whole experience as electric, and despite the nerves could not wait to put the wattage down. He said: “I gave it my all, so I can be proud of myself and make my team LUBC proud of me.”