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Published on 10/12/1998 All articles from this issue

Crew team wins title at Nike World Games

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Town Crier Staff Report

Los Altos Hills resident David Leverenz and three other Bay Area men in their 50s are ranked with the best in the world in rowing, a sport normally populated by men half their age.

The team of Leverenz, Stephen Barlett, Robert Conn and David Ehrhart of the Los Gatos Rowing Club recently won a gold and silver in the 55-59 age class at the Nike World Games in Portland, Ore.

Three of the four men competed in crew during college. After taking 30-year hiatuses from the sport, they teamed up with coxswain Gillian Tyndall and coach Cymber Brandis at the Los Gatos Rowing Club three years ago.

Brandis, 32, was an infant when the men she coaches were crewing in college.

"Most competitors in crew are ex-Olympians and national level athletes," Brandis said. "The men they compete against are generally bigger, faster and stronger than we are. But what we have that they don't is a group that rows together, trains together and is in every way a team. Steve Barlett is too small for a rower and he never did the sport in his youth, yet he does it and he wins gold medals. They work harder and they win because of that dedication."

Crew is a physically demanding sport and the team members have had their share of injuries.

Conn developed a swollen disc in his neck, Leverenz had lower back pains and Barlett has had knee trouble. To combat these injuries, the three men had regular sports maintenance adjustments by chiropractor Vikki Petersen, a former Los Altos resident.

But training is only part of the story of any winning athlete. Barlett said mental focus is extremely important.

"I only concentrate on the stroke. I'm almost in a trance when I row, the rhythm of the stroke is everything."

Conn said he uses principles from the book "Dianetics" by L. Ron Hubbard.

"Controlling the reactive mind has been an integral part of my ability to win," Conn said.

Leverenz seems to enjoy the entire experience of rowing.

"Rowing on the flat water at sunrise is tremendous," he said. "It's smooth and graceful like a dance, yet requires immense physical power. That combination of beauty, strength and the almost spiritual nature of it is my whole motivation for being here."