Rowing Seats

Rowing Seat

Rowing Seats

Rowing Seats

See the complete range

Rowing Seats

Adaptive rowing is the youngest sport in the Paralympic Games. It was introduced to the Paralympic programme in 2005 and held its first Paralympic competitions at the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games. Adaptive Rowing is rowing or sculling for athletes with a disability who meet the criteria as set out in the Adaptive Rowing classification regulations.

In 1975, adaptive rowing programmes were initiated in a number of countries, including Australia, Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands and USA. FISA finally introduced Adaptive Rowing at the “World Championships” level at its 2002 World Rowing Championships in Seville, Spain, where 38 athletes competed in the single sculls and the coxed four.

An adaptive rowing boat is identical to a mainstream boat. Adaptive rowing boats are equipped with special seats, which vary according to the disability of the athlete. Currently, there are no other specifications on the seat apart from the following:

  • The LTA4+ has a sliding seat; the other three boat classes have fixed seats.
  • The TA 2x has a seat, which offers ‘complimentary support’.
  • The AW1x and AM1x are equipped with a seat, which offers ‘postural support’ to those individuals with compromised sitting balance (i.e. Spinal Cord Injury, Cerebral Palsy). This ensures that the upper body is supported and kept in a fixed position. Smaller boats are equipped with buoyancy devices called pontoons, which act as stabilizers attached to the boats riggers providing additional lateral balance.

Adaptive Rowing currently has four boat classes, which are adapted for different types of disabilities. The four boat classes are:

  1. LTA4+ (Legs, trunk and arms coxed four)
    • Raced over 1000 metres (since 2006 – previously 2000 metres)
    • Sliding seat
    • Mixed gender boat
  2.  TA2 x (trunk and arms double scull)
    • Raced over 1000 metres
    • Fixed seat
    • Mixed gender boat
  3. AW1 x (women’s single, arms only)
    • 1000 metres
    • Fixed seat
    • Women only
  4. AM1 x (men’s single, arms only)
    • 1000 metres
    • Fixed seat
    • Men only

See the complete range