News & Press archive for March, 2009

On Friday 27^th February, eleven schools and over 150 pupils came together at Hampton School for the Competitive Edge Richmond Indoor Rowing Championships. The entire afternoon of competition gave us some very close racing especially in the Year 7 and 8 categories and with plenty of trophies and shields up for grabs the determination of the competitors to win was infectious. I’m sure that we will be seeing them all again very soon when they race at NJIRC2009 on 17^th March in Battersea Park.

“My name is Chris Manson and I’ve been rowing on a Concept 2 static rowing machine in my local Gym for the past 4 years and I feel that I have progressed immensely.   I did however want to take it to the next level and I have been able to do this by going along to the London Regatta Centre and joining a rowing course. I am a wheelchair user at the moment but this has not been a problem at the club.  By attending weekly it has opened lots of new avenues for me, for example it allows me to have a good workout as well as have a goal to work towards and I’ve made numerous new friends including the coaches, I’d highly recommend it to anyone“.

This years Waltham Forest Borough Indoor Rowing competition was held at Heathcote School in the Northern region of the borough.  20 teams from 12 schools attended the event and LYR would like to congratulate the organisers for getting a large number of the secondary schools involved.  The hall came with its own 14 foot square screen and projector that was situated on a staged area in front of the race floor which meant that all the participants and supporters had a great view of the racing.  The aim of the day was to select the team that will be representing the borough at the London Youth Games in July but also it allowed all participants some race experience before they competed at NJIRC.  There were some very tight races during the day especially in the Year 9 Girls race where only 3 meters separated the 1^st and 2^nd place.  Heathcote School took the gold in the overall competion having performed well throughout the afternoon.  The individual race results will be uploaded soon.

I was diagnosed with a C4 complete spinal cord injury after a gymnastics accident in 2004 which left me paralysed from the chest down.  After my accident I was immediately keen to be active again. I started the first phase of the FES rowing in May 2006 and it wasn’t long before I was rowing the Olympic distance of 2000m. My original time was in the 40 minutes but I have since cut this down to nearly 20 minutes with training at Brunel with Robin and London Regatta Centre with Simon and Paola. The rowing is tough yet enjoyable and since the start my fitness has improved, the muscle tone in my legs has significantly increased and the training gives me a psychological lift. Paola also gives me greater freedom when I row allowing me to gain more independence.