News Archive
British Indoor Rowing Championships 2007
Aspire FES Rowers were again at the British Indoor Rowing Championships this year. The team of four, led for the fourth consecutive year by Aspire’s FES Rowing Manager, Robin Gibbons, performed superbly in front of a huge crowd at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham.
FES (Functional Electrical Stimulation) allows people with spinal cord injuries to, through the use of skin electrodes on the leg muscles, complete a full rowing motion. Aspire, in conjunction with Brunel and Oxford Brookes Universities, is leading the pilot programme that is taking the concept out of the research lab and into a setting that will, eventually, be within reach of the public.
The Championships are British Rowing’s flagship event and thousands of competitors take part every year, from elite athletes to relative beginners. Having FES Rowing recognised as a welcome addition to the event is hugely encouraging and feedback from other competitors and spectators has been overwhelmingly positive.
On the day, all four FES rowers – Robin, Malcolm Robertson, Wayne Evans and Sarah Stanwix – completed the 2000 metre race in excellent times, with Malcolm and Sarah smashing their previous personal bests. Indeed, Sarah put in a phenomenal effort and set a new World Record time, beating the previous best that had also been posted by an Aspire rower.
With ever increasing numbers of rowers graduating from Robin’s programme at the Aspire National Training Centre, we’re looking forward to next year when we’ll be back at the Championships with an even bigger team.