2025 provided another clear-blue water step in the ongoing progress of developing adaptive rowing in the UK through the constantly growing support for it coming from may corners…
COMPETITION SUPPORT – 2025 really feels like an inflection point in Adaptive/Pararowing competition. The community has gone from 18 events in 2017 to 54 events in 2025. And participation has shot up from about 200 pre-COVID to over 500 this past year. More of the higher profile national-level events are featuring adaptive/para races (eg. Junior InterRegional, Brit Champs) and those events are getting more participation than ever (National Junior Indoor Rowing Championships). The Home International trials for England had 6 PR3s fighting for the honor, and Women’s Henley had a record 6 entries for the Grosvenor Cup. We seem to have broken the Catch 22 that competitions didn’t want to hold adaptive events because they couldn’t get the competitors, and athletes didn’t want to train for competitions because there were so few on offer.
BRITISH ROWING SUPPORT – BR continues to invest in adaptive/pararowing well beyond the levels that the small minority of numbers would justify. Marieke Bal passed the torch on to Di Farrell-Thomas keeping the lines of communication and collaboration strong and executing such support as its now annual adaptive grants. Furthermore, the adaptive community is a clearly high priority area at the executive level with regular interaction and support from the Chairman, CEO, GB Para Coach and other BR leaders. At its annual Coaching Conference, BR featured two main speakers on adaptive rowing: Bruce Lynn on Coaching Adaptive Rowing, and Rose Sargent and Caragh McMurtry on Neuroinclusive Coaching.
CLUB SUPPORT – The British Rowing “Strategic Plan 2023 – 2028” had as its first strategic objective to “Increase the number of clubs regularly offering safe and enjoyable adaptive rowing experiences from 35 to 70 by the end of 2024 and to 150 by 2028.” It turns out that we hit the 2024 target and seem on pace with 89 clubs currently welcoming adaptive athletes.
ONLINE SUPPORT – AdaptiveRowingUK.com now features over 300 articles on adaptive competition, community, equipment, insights, etc. And the traffic to it has grown from 6,652 in 2017 to 36,334 visitors each month
COMMUNITY ADAPTIVE GROUP – The “CAG” is now coming into its tenth year and is more robust than ever. It has expanded to the point where a central CAG is not enough to cover all in the interests and activities so a number of special interest sub-groups have been formed:
- Coastal Rowing – led by Sophie Conbeer
- Neurodiversity – led by Rose Sargent
- Epilepsy in Rowing – led by Matt Collyer
- Junior PARArowing – led by Courtland Clarkson
Finally, its first chairperson, Mark Dewdney, decided to have a rest from his years of evangelism and has passed on the mantle of leadership to an exceptional new chair, Paralympic Champion Ellen Buttrick MBE. Ellen is not just a world champion of the sport, but a high profile and experienced leader in the community as a Trustee of the LoveRowing charity and an Ambassador for the Mixed Ability Sport organization. Stay tuned for an introduction to Ellen with an interview with her here.