Rebound swim to Rottnest
On Saturday 24th February, a team of swimmers from our Charity took on the Rottnest Channel swim to raise funds and awareness for the work that we do.
Here is the extract from our interview with The Sunday Times and feature on Network Ten.
The Sunday Times – 18 February 2018
“DIVING in the deep end is second-nature to Katrina Porter — born with fused ankles, stiff joints and steely determination, she leaves most able-bodies in her wake.
The gold medal paralympian from Churchlands is swimming solo in the Rottnest Channel Swim this Saturday — challenging herself well outside her 100m backstroke signature event to swim 19.7km in open water.
“It’s a bit longer than one minute, 24 seconds for my backstroke,” she grins. “It’s probably going to feel like a very long 20km — I’ve never done that before — but it’ll be very special.”
She will swim for sports charity Rebound WA, which also has a team of Paralympian swimmer and wheelchair basketballer Justin Eveson, Paralympian wheelchair basketballer Amber Merritt, Paralympian snowboarder Igor Ivanov and wheelchair basketballer Kayl Jeffery.
Rebound WA chief executive Simon Mead says it’s fantastic the athletes are “giving back”, inspiring the charity’s “WizKidz” primary scholars to have a go at sports.
Porter was born with arthrogryposis. As a small child she found swimming pools were her “happy place”: a freeing environment — void of the daily obstacles and fears of falling over — and an equaliser with her able-bodied friends.
“My parents couldn’t get me out of the pool so they thought they may as well enrol me in a (competitive swimming) squad,” she says.
Four-time Paralympian Eveson was also positively influenced as a child to continue with sports, after his lower leg was run over by a lawn aerating machine and amputated, when he was 12.
As with other Rebound WA kids in wheelchairs, mainstream organised sports were not an option.
To participate, they needed sports wheelchairs and specialised equipment.
“Anytime you put ‘specialised’ in front of ‘sports equipment’, you know its going to be expensive,” Eveson said. “Little is left in our (Rebound WA) office — it’s all out being used.
“It helps bring them out of their shell. The physical and mental health benefits will flow on for the rest of their lives.”
Finishing
The Team finished the swim in just over 7 hours and solo swimmer, Kat Porter, finished a fantastic time of 5 hours and 47mins.
Here is the footage of the team crossing line:
https://www.facebook.com/ReboundWA/videos/1357967604308219/
Head to the Rebound WA Facebook Page – www.facebook.com/reboundwa for more photos and content.