Anything is Possible with CRPS - Great River Race

On the 9th of September, 330 crews descended on the River Thames for the Great River Race. The Great River Race is a 21.6mile marathon from Millwall Dock to Ham in Surrey.

One of those crews was the Royal Dolphins from the Royal Docks and coached by London Youth Rowing. 

The Royal dolphins are a very small disability rowing group made up of six people...

I am part of the Royal Dolphins  and I have been rowing with them for nearly a year.  Throughout this year I have been training to take part in the Great River Race.

We started at Greenwich  pier where our boat (called a Cutter) was docked.  The river was very rough and we were towed by our safety boat to near Millwall Dock, this is where we started our journey, passing a large ship which marked the start line. The bridge count began, there was 29 bridges between us and the finish.

The first big landmark was Tower Bridge and it was amazing to go under such a historic bridge. This was also the first time we saw and heard the crowds of people who had come to watch.  We rowed at a steady pace and soon enough we were going past the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben. Everyone was having a wonderful time and the water had started to calm which made rowing slightly easier.

Battersea Bridge marked the halfway mark and by this point my CRPS leg was starting to complain. I kept moving my leg trying to get comfortable. I was determined that this was not going to stop me, there was no way I was letting my crew down.  Knowing we were halfway the  adrenaline started pumping through my body and I had a burst of energy.

This burst of energy  got me all the way to Chiswick Bridge, we had been rained on and we were now starting to tire. My CRPS leg was going all kinds of colours, my foot was swelling slightly and my lower back was killing. We kept up the steady pace as we needed to get as close to Ham as we could before the tide changed.

Unfortunately the tide changed a few miles from the finish, the water all of a sudden felt heavy and we we were having to row harder to keep the boat moving. By this point the surroundings were very rural and there were not many people around.

There was a sigh of relief when we eventually went under Richmond Bridge, the last Bridge! We all came together and rowed the best we have ever done, over-taking several crews who had gone  out too fast. We could hear the tannoy at the finish party and the gun went, we had finished!

I was overcome with emotion and I ended up in tears. I was so happy, proud and shocked that I had managed to do it.

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This time last year I as basically bed bound and in a wheelchair. In a year I had turned it around and taken control of my CRPS. I've learnt that CRPS doesn't mean can't do something. You can, all you need to do is adapt, as a crew we all had to adapt to row the 21.6 miles. I'm determined that CRPS will not stop me and I will constantly adapt to make sure things happen. I hope this proves to anyone with CRPS, you can do it!