Row Hard Powers on from Strength to Strength

Loans2Go wins Sixth Row Hard Event

A team from Loans 2 Go in Putney won the noisy and exciting Row Hard final by a margin of just three seconds against second placed 12 King’s Bench Walk (12KBW), powering home in three minutes and nine seconds.

Loans2Go’s final leg was pulled home by their managing director, Darren Smith, with his team looking delighted at their win, especially as 12KBW had been ahead of them by two seconds in the heats.

Now in its sixth year, Row Hard 2015 was sponsored by Minster Law and raised over £23,000 of vital funds to pay for specialist wheelchairs which are customised and adapted by the RHN’s team of engineers. The wheelchairs restore independence and quality of life to adults affected by neurological disability.

Loans 2 Go’s final leg was pulled home by their managing director, Darren Smith, with his team looking delighted at their win, especially as 12KBW had been ahead of them by two seconds in the heats.

Now in its sixth year, Row Hard 2015 was sponsored by Minster Law and raised over £23,000 of vital funds to pay for specialist wheelchairs which are customised and adapted by the RHN’s team of engineers. The wheelchairs restore independence and quality of life to adults affected by neurological disability.

Team Astro, from Astro Communications Ltd, won the prize for most money raised (£1,770).

“Their Chief Technology Officer, Steve Smith, whose daughter is a patient at the RHN, said,
With my daughter’s wheelchair we can go out in the grounds and go shopping. Even though it doesn’t have a motor it just glides so smoothly I can push and steer it with one hand, meaning I can walk alongside her in a more natural way. The engineering is very good. Without the biomedical engineering service none of this would have been possible.”

Darren Smith said,

“I would like to say a big thank you to the RHN for putting on such a fantastic event. The team at Loans 2 Go had an amazing time and we can’t wait to return next year to defend our title!

“What really brought home the importance of our partnership with the RHN was the personal story from Steve. It goes to show that these events, and the amazing fundraising efforts involved, really do make a difference and can significantly improve the lives of so many.”

Row Hard began the evening with 26 teams of four, each rowing a 500 metre leg in a relay against the clock. The fastest four, Loans 2 Go, Cowan Architects12KBW and Row Z, (a group of friends led by a friend of a former patient), rowed hard in an exciting finale where they battled each other in four fast and furious 250 metre legs.

The challenge also included several teams from the RHN who all competed in fancy dress, with the prize for the best costumes going to a team of occupational therapists, convincingly dressed as US rock band Kiss.

Other fancy-dressers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, whose day jobs are as RHN music therapists rather than crime fighters, topped new prize category ‘fastest women’s team’, with a heat time of eight minutes and 13 seconds.

Paul Allen, RHN Chief Executive, who also rowed hard in the event, said,

“Row Hard is such an exciting and fun event for all involved, but more importantly it helps us to fund the specially-adapted wheelchairs which are vital for every person who comes to us for care.

“With a bespoke wheelchair patients can engage immediately with their rehabilitation and we so very grateful to each and every team that threw themselves so wholeheartedly into the rowing.”

Full list of participating companies
12KBW
Loans 2 Go
Cowan Architects
H+H Fire
Sugarman
Astro Communications
Minster Law
Pennington Manches
Slater & Gordon
WSM