September 10, 2007

Initial Plans Released for World Class Training Center

ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN-- The University of Michigan Head Men's Rowing Coach Gregg Hartsuff announced that initial plans are in place for a new indoor rowing facility. The facility will be located in the Sports Coliseum on Fifth Street at the corner of Hill St.

The design calls for a sixteen seat rowing tank designed by Stillwater Design. The tank would be capible of moving water at 5 meters per second, which would be the fastest moving indoor tanks in theWorld "By the time our seniors finish their senior year," Men's Rowing Head Coach Gregg Hartsuff explains, "our competitors have been rowing the sweep motion 12 months longer than ours. Most of our guys learn to row as novices at Michigan, and their improvement curve immediately and very significantly would get better with a rowing tank. A rowing tank is a tangible, achievable resource that will have a tremendous impact on our program's success."

The facility will also house new dedicated lockerrooms for both the Men and the Women's team, space for the program's 75 ergometer, coaching offices and a conference room.

"The addition of this indoor rowing center, and in particular the rowing tank, will have an immediate impact on the quality of experience for our student-athletes as well as on the speed of our crews," reports Women's Rowing Head Coach Mark Rothstein. "An indoor rowing center will add dimensions to our training that are critical to our program's success and that cannot be duplicated. We are very excited about the opportunities that this facility will make available."

Athletics resources and gifts will fund the $1.8 million project budget.