The British Indoor Rowing Championships

A proud moment for the team as James Cracknell awards the first FES rowing medals.

In November 2004 two paraplegic rowers, Robin Gibbons and Sol Solomou, demonstrated the feasibility of FES Rowing by competing in the British Indoor Rowing Championships (BIRC) in Birmingham UK. This was a very exciting and historic event – it was the first time that individuals with paraplegia have competed on an equal basis in a national sporting event – Brunel article, BBC article. This was also recognised by the presentation of special medals to Robin and Sol by the Olympic gold medallist, James Cracknell.

The FES rowing ergometer was based on the standard Concept 2 rowing machine adapted for our paraplegic rowers in collaboration with the Charity DEMAND.

BIRC – 2005

The BIRC–2005 will take place again on 20th November at Birmingham's National Indoor Arena. In addition to the 2,000 meter event the team will also demonstrate a unique one-minute 'have-a-go' row. The latter is intended for paraplegics who are unable to complete the 2,000-meter event, due to their particular disability, or who have only recently begun training. Here the individuals will aspire to win for their own sake by striving to reach personal goals in performance. All the rowers will try to attain as high a level of performance as their own disability and present technology will permit i.e. they will be mainly challenging themselves, which is in itself a gratifying experience. The idea is for everyone to have fun, embrace personal challenge and participate!

Find out about the FES Rowing Team