Sculling club hosts wounded warriors event

[Longmont Times-Call]

Michael Findell, Tyler Romero and Scout Sutton cheer on a Vietnam veteran at the Longmont Sculling Club's Wounded Warrior event on Jan. 16.A group of veterans participate in the Longmont Sculling Club's Wounded Warrior event at 3-2-1-Attention Row! on Jan. 16. In the foreground, people with spinal cord injuries are rowing arms and shoulders. The rest are either rowing with sliding seats or using fixed seats depending on their abilities. Since the event, three have participated at the Denver Indoor Rowing Championship.

By Debra A. McCabe

Longmont Sculling Club

On Friday, Jan. 16, at 3-2-1-Attention Row!, the Longmont Sculling Club hosted an event for Wounded Warriors in our area — and got them all erging (on rowing machines). We had 16 participants — all veterans — with age ranges up to 84!

We worked with folks from the Denver VA , Adaptive Adventures and rowing clubs up and down the front range. Eleven of the participants came from the Denver VA, two came direct to Longmont Sculling Club and Three are involved in other Adaptive Adventures activities.

Three people rowed arms and shoulders (AS) and one trunk and arms (TA) (a triple amputee — with an awesome grip that he uses to kayak) — everyone else was able to use the sliding seat and row legs, trunk, arms (LTA). The majority of the people are being treated for post traumatic stress disorder and/or traumatic brain injuries.

I was very happy to have such competent volunteer team to help to instruct! We spent a fair amount of time working in the small groups and individually then took a break. Then we pretty much got everyone rowing together for a while, adding in some short bursts of pressure — and a sing-a-long that I really hope was captured on video somewhere. It was really great for a first day for everyone. Some of the people are quite competitive in the 500 meter "race" at the end, and I expect we'll see more of them.

Everyone seemed to have a good time — volunteers included.

I'll be reaching out to these people to see who wants to continue either on the ergs or on the water in the spring. The more we do it, the more we learn. It was great to give them something new to try, some exercise and a little friendly competition for those that wanted it.

This was made possible by a grant from the Veterans Administration to USRowing and assistance from Adaptive Adventures. USRowing has identified five areas of the country that are underrepresented in adaptive rowing, and the Longmont Sculling Club has been charged with spreading the good word of rowing to our wounded veterans in the area. It has been very timely as we were starting to develop these programs pretty much in step with the grant process - and it is something that I have been working to get started here in Longmont for the past couple of years.... and now with USRowing support it will be that much easier.

If you'd like to get involved in future events and programs either as a participant or a volunteer, email [e-mail]. There will be more events and programs in the future and we'd love to get more community involvement.