Bermuda’s rowers had three top ten finishes at the Crash-B World Indoor Rowing Championships in Boston on Sunday.

Six members of the Bermuda Rowing Association travelled to the US on the weekend to compete in 2,000 metre sprint races, with Ann Perinchief placing fifth in the Veteran Woman Division, in a time of 10min 47sec.

Amy Ponnampalam placed ninth in the Lightweight Masters Women’s Division in a time of 8:24, while Sylvia Robinson finished tenth in the Lightweight Veteran Women’s Division in 8:57.

Willie Forbes placed 22nd in the Veteran Men’s Division, 60-64, finishing in 7:49 while Nick Kempe finished 40th in the Masters Men’s Division, 30-39, in 6:55. Alyssa Paynter finished 219th out of a huge class of several hundred athletes in the Junior Women’s Division in a time of 8:32.

Accompanying the team to the event at Boston University was coach Corey Brunton, who Mandy Sodergren, the Bermuda Rowing Association president, said had been “an inspiration”.

“We are all very proud of our team and grateful to coach Corey for inspiring them to compete at such a high level with his excellent training and fitness programme,” she said. “We’d also like to thank the Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club for providing the gym facility and dock access to the water that are so essential to the sport of rowing in Bermuda.

“Events such as the Crash-B are great fun, in spite of the many months of hard training required and create targets for our members to achieve. More international competitions on and off the water are planned.”

The Bermuda Rowing Association is looking to grow its membership in the next 12 months and hopes that targeting events like the Crash-B and on- the-water competitions overseas, will give members platforms to test themselves off the island.

“Many cross-fit athletes in Bermuda have taken to rowing with great excitement,” Nick Kempe, a member of the Bermuda team, said. “We really encourage them to try out rowing with us.”