Sarah Catchpole, UK
Talking to Sarah Catchpole makes you feel like a sporting underachiever! Following her stroke at 55 Sarah was determined not to it that stand in the way of getting back to the sport she loves. After pushing herself through hours of rehab exercises daily, Sarah is now back to rowing as part of her Cambridge rowing club.
As a fit and active person, at first Sarah didn’t even want to tell her crew-mates what had happened. ‘I felt embarrassed and struggled to accept that this had happened to me’. Once she shared her experience her rowing club support has proved crucial to her physical and mental recovery. With a few adjustments and a bit of help getting the boat onto the water, Sarah trains on and off the water and is back to competing.
With a London Marathon medal and the London Surrey bike ride already under her belt, Sarah has set her sights on getting a London Classics medal. She’ll be training for a 2 mile open water swim in the London’s Serpentine throughout October.
‘I might not be as fast, I might need to adjust how I do things , like get a bit of help carrying the boat, but I am back and still doing it! ‘I think the hardest challenge of all is recovering from a stroke, harder than any marathon!’
If you have been inspired and want to join Sarah as part of the #GreaterThan swim team, you can register here.
