Sophomore excelling in nontraditional sport

Roman Shor might be Penn's best athlete not on a varsity squad.

That is because Shor, an Engineering sophomore, has competed internationally as a member of the United States Indoor Rowing Team.

After qualifying for the 12-person development squad on the ergometer -- an indoor rowing simulator known to the sports fans simply as an "erg" -- Shor traveled with the team to Copenhagen to row in the European Open in December.

Competing in the junior 18-year-old men's heavyweight division, Shor won gold with a time of 5:58.2 for the 2000-meter piece, almost eight seconds faster than the second-place finisher.

But just how good is a sub-6:00 2K time?

According to former U.S. National Team member Noel Wanner, this score places Shor "into an elite group of athletes, perhaps the top 1 percent in the world in terms of sheer physical capacity.

"National and Olympic team coaches look for signs of physical capacity in their athletes," Wanner added. "A sub-six-minute erg score is a very good sign that the athlete has a big engine."

A "big engine" such as Shor's would be an asset to any college crew team, so it's puzzling that he is not listed on Penn's varsity roster.

Although he rowed in Penn's freshmen eight -- a boat that captured fourth-place finishes at the Eastern Sprints and Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships -- Shor isn't currently on the team. He's now taking part in a 12-week Sea Education Association program in Massachusetts.

But don't think his year on the team was all for naught.

"Penn freshman crew taught me self-discipline and endurance," Shor said in an e-mail. "Without these I would be left behind in a ditch along time ago."

The endurance Shor acquired will surely help him with the grueling physical aspect of erging, but perhaps the self-discipline he learned will be more valuable in the long-run.

The physical exertion of rowing may, as Wanner says, "extract all the oxygen from your body as fast as possible," but the real battle among elite rowers may be an internal one.

Even though Shor's competitions only take about six minutes, the urge to buckle under the physical pressure never lets up, especially in an indoor setting that is less than picturesque, he said.

"On the erg, the only entertainment is your reflection in the mirror and a number on a screen," Shor said.

"Thus, the brain must concentrate on the one thing it does not want to: pain," he added.

Fortunately for Shor and the rest of the USIRT, this physical pain may be alleviated somewhat by experiencing another part of the world nearly expense-free, with people who share their love of the sport.

However, because the team's average age is 47 and accepts competitors across the age spectrum, the sophomore may not experience the same type of companionship that is present on Penn's campus. Shor is the youngest rower and one of only two under 35.

But in a way he has joined a fraternity of his own, even if it's one that accepts an 81-year old man with open arms.

The team members may not be privy to superstar athlete treatment or opportunities, but there is a certain simplicity and comfort to the travel life, at least off the erg.

"They travel like two weeks after the team was named, and we pay their way over to Europe," said Lisa Washburn, one of the Concept2 Indoor Race coordinators. Concept2 Inc. is the company that produces the ergs. "The camaraderie that's built with the team is really kind of cool."

This type of solidarity is characteristic of sports with a small following, but will indoor rowing ever take off the way other obscure sports have?

According to Wanner, it has already grown significantly in recent years.

"This friendly competition has now grown into a world-wide sport," Wanner said. "You could compare it to something like weight-lifting -- a training tool that has grown into a valid sport of its own."

Even so, Shor and the rest of the indoor-rowing community would like to spread the word of the sport's legitimacy, and perhaps set the skeptics straight.

Shor's solution: "The scoffing people deserve a knuckle sandwich."

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