Cromie Upbeat Ahead Of Ponzan Challanges
19th August
The Newsletter
By Nigel Ringland
Karen Cromie will head to Poznan in Poland this week for the World Rowing Championships that get underway on Sunday.
A year on from narrowly missing out on a Paralympic medal in Beijing when she finished fifth in the final of the truck and arms double sculls, the Co. Fermanagh athlete will be representing Ireland after moving from the Great Britain set-up to be closer to home.
Her partner will be Vincent Culhane and this will only be their second international event together after competing earlier in the season at the Munich World Cup when the duo finished sixth.
“We were disappointed with the result but you always look for positives and we had only been training for about three weeks together so it was an opportunity to compete and see what the opposition was like. I wasn’t well, I had a chest infection and we had some technical problems as well but that has all been sorted and we hope to improve on that performance in the World Championships,” she explained.
Their initial goal will be to make the final.
“Great Britain will be tough, so will Poland and Brazil as well while there are a few new countries taking part. Obviously I would love to get a medal and I think that will be a realistic goal at the World Championships next year. We will definitely be very happy with a place in the final. This is a three year project heading to the Paralympics in 2012 so to finish top six in the world next week would be a terrific achievement.”
Karen’s story is an inspiration to others with a disability. She suffered a spinal cord injury seven years ago but was soon introduced to wheelchair basketball with whom she won silver medals at both the 2005 and 2006 Paralympic World Cups for Team GB.
She came into rowing through the British talent identification scheme after an introduction to the sport through Helene Raynsford, another GB adaptive rower. Karen took part in her first World Rowing Championships shortly afterwards in 2006, finishing 6th in the double scull. The following year in May she suffered a back injury. After a few months of intensive rehabilitation and physiotherapy Karen participated in her second World Rowing Championships in Munich in 2007 where she and her crewmate James Roberts came 8th and qualified their boat for the first Paralympics, Beijing 2008.
She’s also a member of the Sports Institute of Northern Ireland who provide her with an excellent support network, something she couldn’t do without.
“I’m very lucky to be able to have the job I do and to have the funding from Sport NI to be a full time athlete because without that I couldn’t do what I love. Without the people at SINI I would be completely lost. It’s a fantastic environment to be part of and all the staff there are committed to improving me as an athlete. They come up with a programme that is suitable for me and to be honest I’m not treated any differently. Sometimes when people work with a disabled athlete they aren’t too sure what to do with this person but we’re no different. I use mostly the same muscle groups except of course I don’t have use of my lower body but everything else is the same as an able bodied rower. There’s no big deal about it and I talk to the people at SINI and we adapt my programme to me and it’s a relationship I couldn’t do without.”
With thanks to Richard Mulligan, Sports Editor of The Newsletter
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