Raised in South Australia Carmen Klomp's senior rowing club rowing was initially from the Port Adelaide Rowing Club and later the Riverside Rowing Club in Adelaide. She first contested the
Australian Rowing Championships in 1991 when she won the U19 national single scull title from her Port Adelaide teammate
Anna Ozolins with whom she would go on to row at state and national representative levels. She made her first state representative appearance for South Australia in the 1991 women's youth four which contested and won the Bicentennial Cup at the Interstate Regatta within the
Australian Rowing Championships. In 1992 she rowed again in the South Australian youth four. In 1994 she stepped up into the South Australian senior women's four which won that year won the ULVA Trophy at the Interstate Regatta. She rowed in five consecutive South Australian women's fours from 1994 to 1998, stroking the crew in 1995 and rowing to a second ULVA Trophy victory in the bow seat of the 1996 SA four. Klomp rowed in the five seat of the South Australian women's eight when in 1999 the women's heavyweight event at the Interstate Regatta switched into eights. That SA crew placed third and Klomp held her seat in the eight in 2000 and 2001 when the SA women's eights placed second and fifth. ==International representative rowing==