Para Rowing for Masters

Para rowing in New Zealand is predominantly masters participants. Ross Webb is working on recruitment into the youth section of clubs - April 25th is a have a go weekend in the Waikato. Some are new to rowing and others are switching from other codes.

Some para rowers have been in the sport a long time like Ron Satherly, many are new to rowing aged 30-60. They all suffer from one thing - whatever ails them gives them consternation - either changes are needed to prosthetics or their joints aren’t handling the strain of training. Medical review is constant and so we don’t see many athletes as consistently as we would like.

The pathway for Rowing New Zealand representation - there’s a document explaining how to get into high performance para rowing which explains “what I need to do and how to progress”. The first candidate Toby Ireland (Petone) is going through the U22 programme now.

The intellectually impaired group of para rowers have less opportunity to go to the Olympics and so they get less focus from governing bodies. We know from statistics that 156 intellectually impaired athletes did get qualification to the Paralympics in Paris from 45 different countries. Where intellectual impairment affects your control of muscles and structure are as much a para impediment as someone with blindness or a limb loss. This is an area Ross Webb is hoping to develop further. Rowing New Zealand has received funding to train classifiers (people who assess athletes as para-qualified).

How you can help

We need to grow a larger base of participants. The only way to do this is to advertise through our clubs the desire to offer a rowing experience to all who want to. This could focus on paras and intellectually impaired athletes. Could you put out an advert and invest time giving these people a try on the water?

Maria Lomba 1x at sunrise in a cove

If a specialised boat is needed for PR1 and PR2 (arms only and arms and body only) these boats have pontoons and a special fixed seat to which they are secured while rowing. There are “creative” ways boats can be adapted to suit their needs - just ask Ross. The PR3 athletes use a normal sliding seat boat without pontoons.

The para committee is happy to advise, field phone calls and visit your club to assist with your have a go day. Rowing New Zealand’s Nicole Roder is the first point of contact nicole@rowingnz.kiwi .

The Legion North Island Masters Championships has events for para rowers

16 Masters para single sculls

67 Masters para double sculls