One of the pandemic silver linings has been the surge of remote work and play over digital video conferencing, and this shift helps adaptive rowing. One of the long standing challenges of adaptive rowing was securing a critical mass of numbers for effective competition. Despite its growth in recent years, adaptive rowing remains a relatively small community. Furthermore, travelling distances to competitions is often extra difficult for disabled athletes making it harder to build competition numbers by drawing from wider radiuses.
But the “online” racing format removes the geographical constraints allowing for competition that otherwise wouldn’t happen. The strength and appeal of the format has contributed to the British Rowing Indoor Championship’s (BRIC) decision to remain virtual this year. And it has allowed regional competitions, like this weekend’s Dorset Indoor Rowing Championships, to reach a larger number and introduce support for adaptive categories.
Congratulations to all the adaptive rowers who took part and special kudos to the winners both from the indoor rowing powerhouse that is Invictus:
- PR/AR 2 – Andrew McEvoy, Invictus
- PR/AR 3 (PD) – Raymond Robinson, Invictus