Indoor rowing records tumble for para-rowers

At the Canadian Indoor Rowing Championships in Mississauga, Ontario, Curtis Halladay and Cameron Sinclair posted World Records. Halladay went 2:56.6 in the para LTA men’s 1000m race while Sinclair recorded 3:23.2 in the para TA men’s 1000m.

Halliday, racing for his hometown university, Laurentian University (Sudbury, Ontario) is a relative newcomer to the sport after being recruited last year. Sinclair, by comparison, is more experienced. Sinclair first took up an oar and erg handle in 2013, moving to London, Ontario to train at the University of Western Ontario Boat Club. Both Halliday and Sinclair have international aspirations and Rowing Canada Aviron (RCA) has taken notice.

“Both of these guys are outstanding people and athletes,” says Paul Hawksworth, RCA’s para-rowing manager. “(They are) down to earth guys who like to train hard and push themselves. The World Records weren’t a surprise, both had broken the previous records in testing at home. However,” adds Hawksworth, “I suspect others have also gone under those records, so we are encouraging both these guys and the other athletes in the para programme to keep improving.”

Then at the French Indoor Rowing Championships in Paris, the very experienced Perle Bouge broke her own World Record. Paralympic medallist, Bouge was one of 1500 participants at the championships and part of a number of French national rowing team members that competed. Bouge set the record in the para TA women’s 1000m in 2013 with a time of 3:52.2 and her new record knocked almost five seconds off this, establishing a time of 3:47.5.

A further para-rowing indoor World Record recently fell. This time at the British Rowing Indoor Championships in London. Grace Clough competed in the para LTA women’s 1000m and clocked the World Record time of 3:28.6. This time was nearly two seconds faster than the former record which was set by Naomi Riches, also of Great Britain.

Clough is a 2014 para-rowing World Champion from the para mixed coxed four  and is currently in her third year in the sport.

With such a large number of World Records falling it appears that Hawksworth’s suspicions are correct. It is likely that the records will continue to fall in all para events as athletes and national teams prepare for the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.

Para-rowing indoor World Records here.