Para-success: Ross and Bellis

Watching the interaction between Ross and Bellis, Para-rowers in the TA mixed double sculls brings a smile to your face. They laugh and bicker like siblings yet when in the boat they have a mutual understanding that they mean business. It is because of this that they can sit in a boat with each other for hours every day and come away at the end of the season still smiling. Winning the 2013 World Championship title helps too.

Ross is a stalwart of Rowing Australia’s Para-rowing programme and her results are testament to its success and how a programme can nurture a person’s determination. She rowed to silver at the 2007 World Rowing Championships in the TA mixed double just a few months after sitting in the boat for the first time and she makes no apology for her raw hunger to achieve. This also qualified her and former partner John Maclean for the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games.

Ross came together with Bellis in 2012. Their fifth place 2012 Paralympic finish preceded the unforgettable moment of their gold medal final at the 2013 World Rowing Championships, a result that helped earn them the title of 2013 World Rowing Para-rowing Crew of the Year and Ross features as World Rowing’s Athlete of the Month for January 2014.

World Rowing: 2013 ended just as any athlete could hope; with a World Championship title. Tell us about your season?
Kathryn Ross: It was not your typical season. We had a lot of disruption coming into it with injuries sustained just before London and then the surgeries as a consequence (Bellis had surgery on his arm and began rehab in January). We couldn’t train as solidly or as hard as we normally would. Maybe there’s a little secret in that; sometimes less is more. We worked on a lot of strength training and I think that will be our key going forward.

WR: Recall for us your final at the 2013 World Rowing Championships.
KR: Believe it or not it’s the best race we have ever had, from training to racing. For us, every stroke felt spot on to what we wanted and we just kept pushing from there. It was an amazing race and felt wonderful.

Gavin Bellis: For me it was a blur. I suppose I could say I was ‘in the zone’ because I can’t remember much of the race. Kat had to tell me to stop rowing at the end because when you are racing a close race and you hear a beep it could be for another crew. I’m glad she did because I was in the ‘hurt locker’ towards the end. Then she told me that we had won and that was quite unbelievable.

WR: Does this mean you race in ‘your own world’, Gavin?
GB: I was in my own world. I heard the crowd and I knew that it was a close race. I thought we were in the top three, I knew we were doing okay but I knew I was dying as well so it was like ‘I can hear the crowd, thank goodness it’s almost over.’ When Kat told me to stop rowing it was almost a relief but it was bigger relief to stop and know we had got the result. We knew that we could always achieve it but to be honest this season we had no idea where we stood.

WR: What was the reaction to your result?
KB: “Wow” is probably the word. The support we got was amazing and I think the relief for everybody else was just as much as it was for us. Support for us is in the boat, out of the boat, not just with day-to-day people and support staff but it’s also our families and friends. I think they were all on the edge of their seats because we had told them that we had a very bad season and not to expect too much from us so it was a shock for everybody.

GB: I was told that my wife was more nervous than I was, calling everyone screaming. But I must admit that coming into the pontoon and seeing the Rowing Australia team of coaches, athletes, CEO, etc was really emotional for me.

WR: There is a real sense on inclusivity amongst your team. What does this mean to you?
KB: Para-rowing is still new and people are still learning what it’s about but Rowing Australia is really inclusive. It’s not just our coaches who cycled with the race, it was the men’s eight coach and the lightweight women’s coach too. The entire team was there supporting us and they were almost in disbelief at what an amazing race we had had and how fiercely we had to race to get the gold.

I have seen the sport (Para-rowing) evolve from ‘come and try’ to what is cutthroat now.

GB: Eric (Horrie) won the single just before us so I think to start off the finals with two wins, it almost lifted the team in a way. There was an air of excitement and I think the Australian team was buoyed by it.

WR: The sense of inclusivity in the sport is getting ever-stronger. How do you feel it?
GB: in terms of other sports I think that rowing is years ahead in terms of inclusion. We compete side-by-side which is fantastic. Our achievement is no less.

KB: We also train side-by-side – on the water, in the gym. We are expected to perform and are held as accountable as they (the rest of the team) are.

WR: You have both achieved incredible things in rowing. Where did it all start for you?
KR: Swimming was my forte and I wanted to go to the Beijing Games. The talent identifiers there thought I could make it to Paralympic level but by London. It was Beijing that I wanted so the identifiers suggested rowing. To me, rowing was quite a strange sport as it goes backwards but I decided to give it a go. I went from strength to strength really quickly and within 18 months I was standing on the podium in Beijing with a silver.

I was pretty determined from the start and was out to prove a point that I was determined to do what I wanted to do; get Australia’s name in the history books which I did in Beijing, win a World Championship which I did in Chungju. The next step is Rio.

GB: I am from a military background and I saw that in the Beijing Paralympics that there was a cyclist with my disease (Spino cerebellar ataxia) and I thought ‘hang on, I may classify!’ When my family moved to Melbourne I took up rowing, starting with a learn-to-row programme. I fell in the Yarra River many, many times which wasn’t that pleasant! Then I had a coach, Stuart McShane, who was willing to help me out around my family (Bellis is a stay-at-home Dad). He said, ‘one day I reckon you could make it; I reckon you could be a World Champion.’ Two hours after we won (in Chungju) I text him and said ‘we’ve done it.’ If it wasn’t for him I might not have had the opportunity. Rowing Australia have also been fantastic in making sure my training fits around my family. The Kiwi pair have said that they want to go undefeated until Rio and I must admit, I want to do the same thing!