Stratford Boat Club's adaptive squad excels at Phyllis Court Time Trials at Henley-on-Thames

STRATFORD Boat Club’s adaptive squad showed they are a force to be reckoned with some exceptional performances at the Phyllis Court Time Trials at Henley-on-Thames.

The club entered ten crews for the highlight event of the adaptive calendar on Sunday, this included Rob Pedley, Lee Cairns and Dan Browne who were competing in their first ever event.

On the day, there were 13 adaptive rowers making their debut, a good indicator for the growth of rowing for the disabled. In perfect but cold conditions, all of Stratford’s rowers excelled, leaving head adaptive coach Mark Dewdney over the moon.

“The squad is now so large that we spend a lot of our time at regattas just making sure all the kit is available when it needs to be,” he said.

“This may be tiring and a major undertaking for all the coaches and helpers as well as the athletes, but good results will always make the effort worthwhile.

“The section is heavily reliant on volunteers who give their time freely, this is why the team works so well.”

Given the nature of the event, the awards are only given out for special performances.

This year these focussed on the new rowers, with Stratford taking two of the six prizes. One prize went to Browne and ‘buddy rower’ and adaptive coach Joe Moore as the fastest new double, while Pedley took the coaches’ award for the most impressive debut of the day.

Also at Phyllis Court to support the athletes were Mayor of Stratford Cllr Kevin Taylor and boat club president Paul Stanton.