Indoor para-rowing records broken in Canada and France

At February’s Canadian Indoor Rowing Championships in Mississauga, Ontario, Curtis Halladay and Cameron Sinclair posted new world records. Halladay posted 2:56.6 in the para LTA men's 1,000m race while Sinclair recorded 3:23.2 in the para TA men's 1,000m.

Halliday, racing for his hometown university, Laurentian University is a relative newcomer to the sport after being recruited last year. Sinclair, by comparison, is more experienced. Sinclair first took up an oar and erg handle in 2013, moving to London, Ontario to train at the University of Western Ontario Boat Club. Both Halliday and Sinclair have international aspirations and Rowing Canada Aviron (RCA) has taken notice.

"Both of these guys are outstanding people and athletes," said Paul Hawksworth, RCA's para-rowing manager. "(They are) down to earth guys who like to train hard and push themselves. The world records weren't a surprise, both had broken the previous records in testing at home.

"I suspect others have also gone under those records, so we are encouraging both these guys and the other athletes in the para programme to keep improving."

At the French Indoor Rowing Championships in Paris, Paralympic medallist Perle Bouge broke her own world record in the para TA women's 1,000m with a time of 3:47.5 which kicked almost five seconds off her previous best set in 2013.