Rowers to make Paralympic history

Three NSWIS athletes have been part of a record-breaking affair for Rowing Australia, with Jeremy McGrath, Kate Murdoch and Jo Burnand helping Australia’s Legs, Trunk and Arms (LTA) Mixed Coxed Four win the Final Paralympic Qualification Regatta in Gavirate, Italy. 

The trio were teamed with Western Australia’s Brock Ingram and Davina Lefroy for the history-making final that saw the Aussies qualify the boat in class for the 2016 Paralympic Games, the first time Australia has done so in Paralympic history.  

Courtesy of this result, Australia’s rowing team for this year’s Paralympics has grown to three boats, with the LTA Mixed Cox Four joining the already qualified Arms, Shoulders Men’s Single Scull of NSWIS athlete Erik Horrie, as well as the Trunk and Arms Mixed Double Scull. 

With a Paralympic berth within reach, and a slight tail wind assisting, Australia’s LTA Mixed Cox Four capitalised on great conditions in Gavirate to make a good start and lead at the 500 metre mark of the race. With the onus on their competitors to make up ground, China emerged as the closest challenger, however their attempt wasn’t good enough as NSWIS coxswain Burnand urged the Aussies to begin their push for the finish early, resulting in a half second victory. 

Post race Murdoch told Rowing Australia of the excitement in qualifying a boat in class for Rio for the first time. 

“It’s the first time Australia has qualified this boat for the Paralympic Games and it has been a massive team effort during the last Paralympic cycle. The support from Rowing Australia, the State Institutes and Academies of Sport, State Associations, coaches, clubs, friends, family and other athletes have really ensured this sport class has grown,” Murdoch said. 

Stamping their authority on the competition in Italy, the crew then backed up their efforts to also win the International Para-Rowing Regatta on the same day, McGrath underscoring the significance of the result that saw the crew beat a number of countries that qualified for Rio at the 2015 World Rowing Championships. 

“For this race, I had a lot of redemption because having raced these crews in 2015 [when Australia didn’t manage to qualify the boat], I was eager to race them in this new combination and show them what we could do,” McGrath told Rowing Australia. 

NSWIS athletes McGrath, Murdoch, Burnand as well as Arms, Shoulders Single Scull rower Horrie make up half of Australia’s eight-strong Paralympic rowing contingent to date.