Ten rowers representing the UK at this year’s Invictus Games in October were put through their paces over weekend in Colchester.
The athletes, who make up the 72-strong Team UK, were coached at the Corporal Budd Gym by a British Rowing Talent ID Coach. The team received expert tuition on how to improve technique and build stamina; all designed to ensure they are mentally and physically prepared for the Games in Sydney.
Many of the wounded, injured and sick serving military personnel and veterans who took part on Saturday and Sunday are not just rowing at the Games though. They are participating in several other sports including athletics, archery, wheelchair basketball, cycling, powerlifting, wheelchair rugby, swimming, sitting volleyball, wheelchair tennis and sailing.
One of those athletes is 29 year old RAF veteran Rachel Williamson from Rutland in Leicester; she is competing in both swimming and indoor rowing. Rachel, who served as a medic and loved to play rugby, developed a functional neurological disorder rendering her left arm useless.
After re-discovering her love for sport at the Help for Heroes’ SportsFest in Nottingham in early 2017 Rachel opened a new chapter of her life. She is now learning how to adapt through sports and has found a passion for helping others in similar situations.
