STRATFORD-upon-Avon Boat Club’s adaptive squad athletes broke two world records at the British Rowing Indoor Championships in Birmingham.
The event took place at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) as a number of Stratford athletes came away with medals.
Stratford’s adaptive squad comprised four neurodiverse rowers and one amputee.
Amputee athlete Ricky Clutterbuck won gold in the PR3 Para four-minute event covering a distance of 1,086m.
Stratford’s Ethan Roberts finished second in the open adaptive event with a distance of 1,140m with Ian Ward fifth on 972m.
And Roberts also took bronze in the 2000 metres, achieving the distance in seven minutes 15.7 seconds.
Neurodiverse athletes Edward Owen-Smith and Lance Fowler competed in the Year Nine boys’ event as Owen-Smith won silver in a time of one minute 34.2 secs with Fowler 15th in a time of one minute 45.4 secs.
Both athletes also beat the previous world record of one minute 53.9 secs in the PR3-ID (intellectual disability) category for 13 to 14 year olds.
All of the club’s neurodiverse athletes also competed in the one minute dash.
In the adult open adaptive event, Roberts won bronze with a distance of 314m with Ward sixth with 274m.
And Owen-Smith won gold with 319m and Fowler silver with 284m as both athletes also again beat the existing PR3-ID world record of 261m.
Stratford’s head adaptive coach, Mark Dewdney said: “Two world records, good results from everyone.
“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.”
