WITH a year to go before the Rio 2016 Paralympics, George Upfield of the Oxford Adaptive rowing squad looks back on the success of James Roe, an Oxford Brookes graduate, whose gold medal at London 2012 inspired this teenager, also with impaired vision, to take up the sport, writes John Wiggins.

Upfield is relishing competing at the City of Oxford Regatta on Sunday, racing in an adapted double-scull boat against other adaptive rowers, each partnered by a coach.

He is a member of the City club, which makes rowing accessible to individuals with physical, sensory or learning difficulties.

Bill Bull, who has Down’s Syndrome, has been involved with the group for around 20 years since the activity was introduced by Oxford University and Oxford Brookes students working with the charity KEEN Oxford, then based at Falcon Rowing Club.

Adaptive rowers are able to make use of the land training at the City's boathouse in Donnington Bridge Road.

But only if they can manage the stairs to the first-floor facility.

Jo Barber, a wheelchair user, is dependent on others carrying her up to the gym.

She recognises the need to make alterations to the building.

Club captain Nick Rogers is leading a major project to extend and adapt the existing building and sees inclusion of a lift as a key part of the programme.

“The adaptive squad is an integral part of a club that caters for all segments of the community”, he says. “From elite rowers to adult beginners, from juniors and masters to the adaptive squad, all have their own goals and make a positive contribution to the club.”

The boats are standard for adaptive rowing, but it is the ingenuity of people like Mic Dixon to adapt the fittings that makes them accessible to the athletes with their individual needs.

Cerebral palsy significantly restricts the mobility of Jon Whitfield, but with the fixed chair in the double scull he can exercise not only his upper body but also his intense competitive instinct.

Like the rowers at CORC, 13 year old Sebastian Johnson is able to access the river with the support of another sculler in the boat.

He has been steadily improving in the two years at Falcon despite having very little grip in his left hand and was overjoyed to participate in a demonstration race at the Blenheim Junior Regatta back in June.

CORC do not have the monopoly on seeking improvements to boathouse facilities and with the sport growing on all fronts, Falcon RC, too, seek funding to redevelop their site.

It remains to be seen how much the public exposure from the regatta will generate interest and new recruits to the Adaptive Squad at CORC, but there certainly exists a hunger to do more.