Rowing - Big in BC

The new indoor rowing tank in the Richmond Olympic Oval looks like a row of seats on a thin stretch of dry land between two perfectly matched ponds.

It's a rather curious structure.

But Craig Pond, the head women's rowing coach at the University of British Columbia, sees the future mirrored in the glassy waters here as well as in a nearby room of high-tech rowing machines facing 16 plasma screens.

Just 400 metres away from the oval is the UBC boathouse on the Fraser River.

"Between the oval and the boathouse, we have every tool you need to be an Olympic rower," said Pond.

Indoor rowing centre in B.C. draws new wave to sport