Am I too old and too short to be a competitive rower?

Question
I was a rower at a university in the southeast for 3 1/2 years.  I placed well in head and sprint races during my years and I have recently graduated.  I am now 24 years old, 5'9" and 165lbs (Rowed lightweight for most of the 3 1/2 years) with a 40 hr 9 to 5.  My PR for a 2K is 6:50 and I maintained a 1:51.00 split for my best 6K.  I never had adequate sleep because of school and knew nothing about nutrition during my rowing career.  I feel like I would be capable of much faster times if I stuck to a strict training schedule.  So here is my question.  Am I too short, too old, and too slow to have a chance at elite rowing if I joined a club, improved my scores, and continue to compete?

Answer
Hi Robert: No, you are not too old to make your comeback.  In fact, some people say the years between ages 25-29 are the peak years for a rower.  Of course, the drawbacks are that its hard to keep the same training regimen you did during college, when holding a job.  But the upside is, you are more mature, more disciplined, and you are probably physically stronger than when you were 19.  The one thing that will drop a bit is your cardiovascular.

Even if you don't make it to the elite level, club rowing is more fun than college rowing.  You can stay with eights or try something different like sculling.  I rowed mostly singles when I was in my mid-to-late 20s and enjoyed the freedom of going whenever I wanted and doing my own workouts.  It was a cool feeling blowing by dudes I rowed with in college, who had the best of back then, but were splashing around in a single while I rowed right past them.  The other neat thing is that when you hit age 27, you are considered a Master and can row in age-specific categories.  The Masters distance is only 1000 meters for a sprint too.  Finally, you can row until you no longer want to.  I recall scullers who were in their 90s whose times were not that far behind mine.

Good Luck/AP