Trials to establish which young people might be eligible to join the British Rowing squads took place at The National Watersports Centre, Nottinghamshire in late March. As part of judging individual skills on the water, candidates from all over the country were asked to
complete cardiac and circulatory testing, which was sponsored by the RALPHH charity. The session was run by Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) and on the Saturday of the weekend 70 school students were tested on ECG equipment, as well as some having sonar investigations.
This is the second consecutive year that RALPHH has helped fund this valuable initiative from British Rowing. It is vital to establish that those who have earned the right to be considered have the health capacity to go forward to their next stage in rowing, having already achieved success at both their school and inter-schools’ competitions.
RALPHH enjoys a close relationship with British Rowing and together the two organisations have also been encouraging both schools and rowing clubs to have easily available access to defibrillation equipment on waterways and in clubhouses.
“Rowing is an amazing sport that can be life-changing in a very positive fashion,” said Richard Allen, Chairman of RALPHH, “but the physical efforts required are considerable and it is right to ensure that those being prepared to represent the country, do so without jeopardising their health, should the body be unable to respond to such high-level exertion.”
Pictured left to right at a testing session are: Rebecca Osborne, Sports Screening Manager at CRY; Richard Allen from RALPHH; Dr Andy Ciecierski, Under-19 Team Doctor at Great Britain Rowing; Dr Bode Ensam, who as well as participating as part of the CRY team is a Cardiac Consultant at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham; and Hazel McKenna, CRY ECQ physiologist. Volunteering for the photograph and being the first to be rested on the day was Calum Forrest, student from Abingdon School in Oxfordshire.
