A Fall Classic for all ages (11/08/2009)

From the 11/09/2009 San Diego Union Tribune:

This year's Fall Rowing Classic provided a chance to measure their performance against the clock as well as other competitors, which were grouped by age and gender. Cavanagh said the participants were roughly split between “masters,” 27 and older; “collegiates,” in their late teens and early 20s; and “juniors” and “junior novices,” some as young as 13.

The oldest rower was Czerner, a semiretired carpenter who began rowing in 1949 at the age of 14, made the semifinals in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics and was well-positioned to do even better in the 1956 games in Melbourne, when infighting in the Argentine Olympic committee led to the decertification of his team.