Harrison and Boaden Prepping for Rio Test
WAIS sailors Colin Harrison and Russell Boaden will take to the waters of Guanabara Bay this week as they compete at the Rio Test event ahead of next year’s Paralympic Games.
With Rio celebrating the official one year countdown to the Games this week, WA sailors Harrison and Boaden, together with NSW’s Jonathon Harris, will compete in the men’s sonar, with the Test event providing an opportunity for the crew to brief themselves on the local conditions as they look to sculpt a 12 month campaign targeting Paralympic gold.
The trio claimed bronze at the 2014 World Championships and have remained virtual ever presents on world cup and international podiums since, with the men capturing silver in France (Hyeres) to go with regatta wins at the Delta Lloyd (the Netherlands) and Weymouth (England) World Cup events this year.
Harris said the crew would be aiming to build on their strong 2015 form.
“We’ve heard so much about Rio and the wait is finally over and the Sonar team is finally going to be testing the waters, literally,” he said.
“It is absolutely perfect timing for us, having won two gold and a silver on the European circuit this year, so things are coming together nicely at the right time,” Harris added.
“This will be an ‘unofficial’ Rio test event for the para classes, so we are anticipating some great racing against our main competitors for next year’s games.
“Of course we are well aware Rio has complex wind, weather and tide aspects. So it will be like starting over, new learning and we anticipate a whole lot of new challenges, which will make it interesting and fun.”
Rio will be the start of a series of major international events for the crew as the Trio will return to Australia after the Test event to focus on the World Championships before 2016 starts with a bang.
“We’ll return to Australia at the end of September to immediately start training and campaigning for the IFDS worlds in Melbourne, and then on to Sail Melbourne, take a deep breath over Christmas, then we’ll be back to Rio a second time and onto Miami for the ISAF World Cup in January.”
-with YachtingAus