Different Strokes

The U.S. rowers on the eight-man and four-man crews, competing this month in the world championships in Bled, Yugoslavia, won their berths in Hanover this summer, not only by proving themselves on the Connecticut River, but also by performing well in exercise tests conducted at the Dartmouth Medical School.

Hanover was chosen as the location for the trials and training camp, according to national team coach Harry Parker of Harvard, because of the Connecticut's almost ideal rowing conditions and lack of interference from power boats. A laboratory at the Medical School was used by Dr. Frederick Hagerman and Timothy Mickelson to obtain physiological information about the oarsmen. While connected to a computerized metabolic measurement device, each contender for the national team pulled against a weighted oar and exercised strenuously for a period of six to 13 minutes in order to produce data about oxygen intake, heart rate, and other bodily functions. As the athletes worked out, the machine printed out metabolic information.

Mickelson, who was in the process of obtaining a master's degree in bioengineering from the Thayer School when he rowed on a national team that won a world championship, explained that the tests were designed to measure stamina, a top rower's most important characteristic, particularly in the late stages of a race. Although the coach takes a hard look at the physiological measurements, he added, the final decision depends on a rower's performance on the water.