diff --git a/rowers/dataprep.py b/rowers/dataprep.py
index 4fb84783..23d926e6 100644
--- a/rowers/dataprep.py
+++ b/rowers/dataprep.py
@@ -1603,6 +1603,8 @@ import rowingdata.tcxtools as tcxtools
 
 def get_workouttype_from_tcx(filename,workouttype='water'):
     tcxtype = 'rowing'
+    if workouttype in mytypes.otwtypes:
+        return workouttype
     try:
         d = tcxtools.tcx_getdict(filename)
         try: