Head of the Charles Regatta 2023

It seems that with regatta season over and the cold weather short day period descending on Britain, the prime adaptive rowing opportunities are abroad. Sudbury’s Sophie Brown returned to the hallowed Head of the Charles Regatta this past weekend to fly the British colours in the Inclusive Double (the American term for “Supported Double”) race. She reported that she had never seen so many PR2’s in one place. She partnered with Valentin Prieto of Riverside BC (the club on the Charles where I learned to scull). In her post-race interview, she shared some poignant observations about this bucket-list worthy event:

• “Genuinely, [the best part of the Head of the Charles is] just the fact that there’s so many para-athletes here. It normalizes disability in the sport. I think it’s because we are so spread out across the country and the world and there’s so few of us that when we get together it’s like a shared language that’s so easy to kick into.”