How the Para Rowing Foundation makes indoor rowing more accessible
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The disability non-profit organization Para Rowing Foundation is dedicated to empowering athletes with disabilities both on the water and on the rowing machine. In this exclusive article, Chair of the Board Steven Dowd shares his personal relationship with indoor rowing, highlights the support PRF offers to Paralympians and explains how para rowers worldwide benefit from its new charity partnership with EXR.
Question: Steven, you had a terrible accident resulting in paralysis. How does that experience translate to your work at Para Rowing Foundation (PRF)?
In 2016, while training for a charity bike ride, I hit a barrier I didn’t see, flipped over, and landed on my head. I broke my neck and suffered a traumatic spinal cord injury that left me instantly paralysed from the neck down. A moment of pure horror and disbelief.
I was rushed to hospital and within 24 hours was inducted into an experimental research trial, which fortunately gave me the foundation to stage an against-the-odds recovery. That’s when I discovered sport as rehab and started setting ambitious physical challenges to find out how far I could go in this new, unfamiliar body and mindset.
That experience moved me from sympathy to empathy with para athletes. I know exactly what it feels like to want to do something and not be able to. Not just physically, but psycho-emotionally because of barriers to access, inclusion, or acceptance.
That experience moved me from sympathy to empathy with para athletes.
Since discovering the transformative power of rowing and the community around it, I’ve become a bit of an evangelist! My focus now is making sure more people can experience that same feeling, whatever their body or background.
At PRF, our goal is to remove those unnecessary barriers, create opportunities, and champion every athlete’s potential — whatever that looks like for them. No one should be shut out of rowing because of injury, disability, or circumstance. Lives genuinely improve when those doors are opened.
Q: What is Para Rowing Foundation?
The Para Rowing Foundation (PRF) is an athlete-centred, fully independent non-profit run by passionate volunteers. We’re not tied to any boathouse, country, or national governing body, which affords us true objectivity. Our HQ is in Boston, Massachusetts, but our remit is global; to power athletes with impairments around the world to fulfil their potential through rowing.
We help make rowing a sport for everybody, at every level, from entry to elite. In simple terms, we add stuff and remove stuff. We add by giving cash grants for training or travel, equipment loan, donation or innovation, connecting athletes with coaches, psychologists, and other experts, hosting high-performance training camps, and more. We remove barriers to access and inclusion through advocacy and the power of our networks.
Q: What kind of athletes does PRF support?
For many people with disabilities, exercising is the bridge between surviving and thriving. PRF support athletes in all three types of rowing (flat water, coastal, and indoor) across the World Rowing classification categories (PR1, PR2, PR3, including visual impairment).
Our athletes range from beginners to Paralympians. In fact, 7 PRF-supported athletes from 6 countries competed at the Paris Paralympics, making up over 6% of the entire Paralympic rowing field. Since 2018, PRF has directly supported more than 250 athletes from 26 countries across 6 continents… and counting!
Q: How does PRF support para athletes, especially when an individualistic approach is needed?
Every athlete is different, so our support is always tailored. Sometimes that means helping a newcomer find a local “learn to row” course or advising a club on how to be more inclusive. Other times, it’s connecting experienced para athletes with elite coaches or helping clubs host para competitions of their own.
One of our flagship projects is the ‘PRF Intensive Training’, a week-long residential for high-potential and high-performance para athletes, mostly held at Avizaqcua Training Center in Avis, Portugal; a European centre of rowing excellence. Intensives are full-on: structured like national team camp with on- and off-water training led by top coaches, most with Paralympic experience. Our recent camp brought together 8 athletes from 8 countries, 6 top coaches, and a team of volunteers. Athletes often train alongside national teams demonstrating that para athletes have an equal place on the dock, in the boat, and on the erg.
But it’s about more than training. It’s about belonging. Athletes and coaches leave with confidence, friendships, and skills that ripple out across their home countries. It’s great for growing the sport internationally.
Q: What challenges do para rowers face that most people might not be aware of?
Equipment is a big one. Rowers in PR1 and PR2 classifications (no significant power generated from their legs) row with a fixed seat, which can be very expensive and hard to source. PRF is currently developing a high-performance fixed seat that’s affordable and can move easily between boat and indoor rowing machine. It’ll be a real game-changer when it becomes widely available.
EXR created a shared virtual space where everyone can row together equally and feel that same sense of belonging
Accessibility is another. Many gyms aren’t designed for para rowers, which can make showing up daunting. That’s why partnerships like ours with EXR are so exciting. They’ve created a shared virtual space where everyone can row together equally and feel that same sense of belonging.
We’re talking together about the importance of having in-game avatars that represent fixed-seat athletes to really reinforce that sense of belonging and emotional bond to the virtual version of themselves. EXR fully understand the importance and it’s on the development schedule for when resources allow. That will be an exciting addition to the app.
Q: How does the charity partnership with EXR reflect PRF’s values?
Rowing has this incredible way of syncing mind and body in rhythm. It’s grounding and freeing at the same time. Whether you’re on a river, a coastline, or an erg in your living room, you feel progress, control, and connection. For para rowers, that’s deeply empowering. You stop being defined or excluded because of what you can’t do and start focusing on what you can.
EXR believes rowing should be for everyone, and so do PRF. They’ve built this amazing digital world where anyone can train, play, or compete online. Together, we’re showing that inclusion and innovation can go hand in hand.
Q: What’s one message you’d love every EXR rower to take away from this partnership?
Two things actually! Rowing really is for every BODY. Whatever your age, ability, or background – para or non-para, on water or on land – there’s a place for you. Whether you’re racing, recovering, playing, or just starting out, there’s room for you in the virtual boat on EXR.
We really want to hear about your experiences and join our community. Relationships start by making contact so drop us a note through social media and share your para story with us!
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