Tag Archives: World Record

World Records for Stratford’s Adaptive Squad!

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The British Rowing Indoor Championships took place at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham at the weekend. A number of Stratford upon Avon Boat Club’s adaptive squad athletes competed and returned with a numerous medals and two new World Records!

The team consisted of four neurodiverse rowers and one amputee. The latter, Ricky Clutterbuck, winning an early Gold in the PR3 Para Four Minute Event, covering 1086m. Ethan Roberts achieved 1140m and Ian Ward 972m in the Open Adaptive version, finishing second and fifth respectively. Ethan followed this Silver with a Bronze in the 2000 metres, completing the distance in a phenomenal  7:15.7!

Edward Owen-Smith and Lance Fowler, both neurodiverse and just thirteen years old, competed in the mainstream Year Nine Boys Event with Edward taking a terrific Silver medal in a time of 1:34.2 while Lance finished in a great fifteenth place out of twenty four competitors with a time of 1:45.4. Both beat the previous World Record of 1.53.9 in the PR3-ID (Intellectual Disability) category for 13-14 year olds.

All the Club’s neurodiverse athletes competed in the One Minute Dash. In the adult open adaptive event Ethan won a bronze medal with 314m, Ian was sixth with 274m. In the Year 9 Open Adaptive event, Edward clocked up 319m and Lance 284m, taking Gold and Silver. Again both beating the existing PR3-ID World Record of 261m.

Head Adaptive Coach Mark Dewdney “Two World Records, good results from everyone: that was a good day! The championships, and rowing in general, has to put more thought into how it accommodates adaptive and particularly neurodiverse athletes. We would have competed in many more events but the scheduling was inappropriate for some of our athletes with complex needs. We will be producing a report for the National Neurodiverse working group to this end.”

For media coverage, see Stratford Herald online  https://www.stratford-herald.com/sport/stratford-rowers-claim-two-world-records-at-british-indoor-c-9444995 and page thirty seven, British Rowing https://www.britishrowing.org/2025/12/the-numbers-behind-the-british-rowing-indoor-championships-2025 and Stratford Observer back sports page https://stratfordobserver.co.uk/editions/view/?/Stratford/2025/12/12&pages=24, online https://stratfordobserver.co.uk/sport/rowing-stratford-boat-clubs-adaptive-squad-break-world-records-at-british-rowing-indoor-championships and Concept online https://www.concept2.com/records?record_type=world&machine=rower&event=&gender=&age_category=13&srsltid=AfmBOoqXAOLOOWcgQ0ZjSWbBBp47rZM5KL5utP1KDx7IZBEVfMZBe5Av&adaptive_rower=3&language_variant=

Stratford’s Adaptives Showered in Gold, Silver and World Records!

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Four of Stratford upon Avon Boat Club’s adaptive athletes attended British Rowing Indoor Championships at the NEC Birmingham on Saturday along with 1,800 other athletes. The day started with Jess Dowdeswell in her first indoor event: Jess went off strong and stayed strong right through to the finish with a convincing win taking Gold in the WPR1 4 Minute category with 729 metres.

Next up were Ricky Clutterbuck in the IAR5 Open 2k event and Curtis Dickens in the PR2 Open 2k event: sadly Curtis had to withdraw at the start line due to illness. Ricky, also in his first indoor event, dominated to take Gold in seven minutes and fifty five seconds and, in an epic show of sportsmanship, turned to his struggling competitor and cheered him through to the finish!

Isaac Clarkson took Gold in the PR3 Yr 10 Boys 5 minute category with 1299m which also placed him 24th out of 45 competitors in the mainstream Yr10 Boys’ competition.

In their final races, Isaac (PR3 Yr10 – 1 minute race) and Jess (WPR1 – 1minute) comfortably secured more Gold medals with Jess setting a World Record, beating the current World Record holder by 97 metres! Ricky (IAR5 – 1 minute) was ahead until the final ten seconds when he came off his ergo seat and, without hesitation, continued to row, perched on the rail with only his arms and won a well deserved Silver medal!

Summing up, Courtland Clarkson, Stratford’s newest qualified L2 adaptive coach said, “It was great fun for athletes and families, with big crowds, pumping music and plenty of well-earned metal to take home!”

For media coverage, see British Rowing online https://www.britishrowing.org/2024/12/world-and-british-records-smashed-at-the-british-rowing-indoor-championships-2024 (scroll down to Adaptive Events), Stratford Herald page thirty six and Stratford Observer online https://www.stratfordobserver.co.uk/sport/rowing-stratford-boat-clubs-adaptive-squad-win-medals-and-break-world-record and on back sports page https://www.stratfordobserver.co.uk/editions/view/?/Stratford/2024/12/13&pages=24