Great Britain’s Paralympic
rowing success
Great Britain’s Paralympic rowing team stroked its way to the top of the medal
standings at the first ever Paralympic rowing regatta in Beijing. the eight-person
squad fielded three medals - two gold and one bronze - in the four adaptive rowing
boat classes.
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Like Britain’s Olympic rowers, who topped
the medal haul in Beijing, its Paralympic
rowers have tapped into the highly funded
GB Rowing programme that is hungry to
continue domination for London 2012.
Kingsley was in Beijing and continues to work
on the strategic direction of the programme
for 2012. “David Tanner, as GB Rowing’s
Performance Director, has ensured the
adaptive programme has been appropriately
integrated into GB Rowing.”
© 2008 Getty Images
According to TomAggar, 2008 Paralympic
Champion in the Arms Only Single Sculls, GB
Rowing set the bar high for its adaptive team,
in terms of medal goals and target times to
break world records, as it does for its Olympic
rowers, but it also provided similar support
programmes. While adaptive rowing locations
are scattered around the country, the team
comes together at the GB Rowing Training
Centre at Caversham on the Redgrave-Pinsent
Lake and trains under Acting Lead Coach
Adaptive Boats Tom Dyson.
With eyes on London, Kingsley admits
GB Rowing is still developing its talent
identification strategy and setting target
goals. “Clearly we wish to continue our
success; however, we have not finalised our
specific goals and targets with our funders
yet. We are under no illusion that the standard
will continue to rise as many other nations
will have had the time to develop their own
programmes further.”
Adaptive rowing has seen considerable
growth in Great Britain including a specialised
youth programme led by Simon Goodey at
the London Youth Rowing Centre. Rowing
sessions are offered for children with
physical, sensory and learning impairments.
Youths who come to have access to life-improving recreation and physical fitness
activity could one day find themselves
part of Great Britain’s Paralympic success.
■ Lisa Lynam
2008 Paralympic Champion
Helene Raynsford training on
the Redgrave-Pinsent Lake in
Caversham, Great Britain.
British adaptive team manager Louise
Kingsley says, “Since becoming a Paralympic
sport, rowing has benefited from funding
from UK Sport, National Lottery and Siemens.”
Rowers have come to the sport from a variety
of backgrounds, says Kingsley. “We have
found that word of mouth has been the
most effective recruitment tool so far,” says
Kingsley.
