Ken Lake... master rower.

Fitness consultant Ken Lake, 60, recently represented Malta at the Italian Open Indoor Rowing Championships, held at the Foro Italico, Rome.

Indoor championships, using Concept 2 rowing machines, are held in various countries. The main fixtures on the calendar are the European and World Championships which cater for different ages and categories.

In Italy there were 400 participants. Lake did well in the Masters events – the 500m sprint and standard Olympic distance of two kilometres.

In winning the 500m sprint, he also set a new Italian champion-ship record of 1:31.1 seconds. His time for the 2K was 7.01 minutes and his effort earned him top prize and a second title in Rome.

Before the Italian champion-ships, Lake also won his category in the Scottish Championship and was classified third in the European Open in Amsterdam.

In the past, Malta played host to a few rounds from the Rowing Indoor Champions and Lake is now planning to bring the contest back to our shores. He also thinks age should not hinder active athletes from continuing with their favourite sport.

“At 60 years and after nearly 50 years of competing at various sports, it was so good to be able to look forward and train for future events instead of looking back over the years,” he said.

“There were many other senior athletes practising sport and the message seems obvious to me… age needn’t be a barrier for healthy training and competition.”