Golden girl Erin leads her crew to Paralympic glory

A COX from Henley continued her unbeaten record at major championships by winning gold at the Paralympics in Paris.

Erin Kennedy, 32, who lives in Station Road, led the Great Britain PR3 mixed coxed four to victory on Sunday.

Britain led from 500m and finished more than three seconds ahead of silver medallists the United States in a time of six minutes 55 seconds and 30 milliseconds.

Kennedy, together with Giedre Rakauskaite, were the reigning Olympic champions in the event having won at the Tokyo Games.

This time they were joined by debutantes Frankie Allen, Ed Fuller and Josh O’Brien but the changes did not affect their performance.

The crew eased to gold and in doing so continued their unbeaten record which stretches back to 2011.

Kennedy, who received the all-clear from stage two breast cancer last year, said she felt more emotional than she expected after her win because of her journey of recovery.

“It really does feel like the end of a chapter,” she said. “I’ve been working towards this for three years and my task got a lot harder when I got diagnosed. Rowing was something that was a real saving grace and kept me going through those really hard, difficult times, and it motivated me.

“On the flip side, I was trying not to make the race bigger than it was by not putting too much pressure on myself because, ultimately, I had a job to do, and I needed to just go out and do my best — I definitely feel relief.”

Kennedy said the race was more stressful for spectators than it was for the crew but was encouraged by rowing fans at the sold-out event.

She said: “I felt quite relaxed. We were in control of the race, even though the Americans were up there and a lot closer than I expected them to be. They stuck with us for a lot longer, other than off the start, which is never our strongest point.

“It always felt like we were setting the pace and they were doing what they could to come with us rather than us chasing them.

“I cannot tell you how loud it was. It almost felt like a home crowd because there were so many Brits there. We had so many friends and family there but, on top of that, the French were going absolutely mental too because they were up in the battle for bronze.”

Kennedy said the crew had to contend with a crosswind and so they had to concentrate.

She said: “We were quite exposed in the last 200m or so. A thought in my head going into the last section was ‘keep them in the middle’ and ‘don't hit the buoys’ because that would have been career-ending if I’d crashed.

“I never thought I was going to crash but I was having to work and think very hard about my steering a lot more than at the start of the race because the wind just really built up.”

The previous day, the crew had set a new world and Paralympic best records during their heat of the event, crossing the finish line in a time of six minutes, 43 seconds and 68 milliseconds.

“It was something I thought was on the cards”, said Kennedy. “It’s been something we’ve been working towards for a long time, and I thought we may be able to do it, and we did.

“This whole cycle and the last three years, I swear we have raced in a headwind every single competition we’ve done. The world's best times exist because they are the best. They are in the best conditions, on the best day with your best crew, and that’s what it’s all about. For us, it was just trying to do what we could on the day to make the most of those and not waste that opportunity.”

Kennedy, who was cheered on the sideline by friends, family and her oncology team said the event was a “huge experience for them”.

She said: “The people who came have never actually seen me race internationally before, so I'm so glad they got to experience the atmosphere of the crowd.

“To have my oncology team there too was just amazing, it was like seeing your teachers out of school because they were all in normal clothes and not in scrubs. They all came to an event with me that evening too to celebrate, which was special. There were definitely a few tears shed.

“I'm so grateful to them and I was so pleased to have them there because when you work in that sort of environment, yes, it’s their day job, but to me, they are the most inspiring people ever. They probably just feel like it's work and for me it's not, they do so much for other people.

“These people are so selfless, and they give so much to others. It was lovely to be able to kind of give them a nice little holiday to France and show them almost the fruits of their labour. I would not be there without them.”

Kennedy, who is married to Sam, an army major, has stayed in and around Paris travelling and spending time with family, friends and crew mates. She is due to come home on Monday.

She has been to watch various sports including swimming, tennis and athletics, spent a day at Disneyland Paris and also visited the French embassy by the ambassador on Tuesday.

Kennedy said: “We get to let our hair down a little bit, a get a lot of free time, but we do have a couple of things we are heavily encouraged to go along to.

“I’ve been ticking off all the sports that are logistically close to me because then I don't have to travel very far. I wanted tickets to the judo because I really enjoy combative sports because they’re really great spectator sports, but unfortunately, they have sold out.”

Kennedy hopes to continue her rowing career in January after a break travelling to Boston, New York and India, where she will trek in the Himalayas to raise money for charity.

“I’m definitely not done with rowing”, she said. “I still really love my job and I feel very lucky to get to do it and I still feel like I have a lot more to give. I've never won a red box at Henley Royal Regatta, so that's definitely on the cards and something in my career that I definitely want to tick off.

“It definitely feels like the end of the weird cancer bit in a weird way. Like, it’s not really over because I still have checkups, and the five-year marker is quite an important one to get the all-clear where your odds and statistics are significantly increased, so that's definitely a big one to be working towards.

“Sharing my story has been all about doing it for myself, but actually doing it for others and showing other people what's possible. It's a horrible thing to get a cancer diagnosis, and it's something no one ever expects, but it proves that it's not the end of all your hopes and dreams when you get a cancer diagnosis, whether you are stage one or stage four.

“Whatever point you find it at, you're still the same person you were before and you're still the same person after you find out you've had cancer.”