Adaptive Rowing at Stratford Upon Avon

Last week I was invited to see adaptive rowing in action with a rowing club in the beautiful Stratford upon Avon. I was met by Mark the head coach and Dan of FNDfriends said he rows every Thursday, so I had to go along and meet these two guys. The first visit had to be postponed due to myself being in the hospital, however, I would have not been able to see any rowing as the river was in a full flood flow due to heavy rain upstream. Then I also got a notification that my return train terminated well before I got home and would probably be stranded for hours in an unknown place. So in hindsight, it was a good move that I did not travel up there.

By the time I arrived last Thursday, there was some sun and the river was flowing nicely, the rowing boats were starting to get launched with safety boats watching everyone move along the river. Mark and I had a great chat and heard his plans for the future (secret for now). I saw a lot of possibilities for collaboration during the coming years if all get the go-ahead.

I took some quick photos of the people rowing in these adaptive boats mainly due to the extra floats being added onto the boat around halfway along the boat. This allows the boat to be stable enough for people with disabilities and slight weaknesses in say one side to confidently learn to row at their pace until they get confident under the watchful Mark who coaches the people.

The course here is 502 meters long and the rowers depending on their ability can do this in around 3-5 minutes for each leg.

A great day was had and I came away with some new friends and plenty of ideas for the future of rowing, so watch this space for more news coming up in the following months.

Just a few photos from the day of training for these guys.