As one journey ends, another begins for British rower Ben Pritchard …
Behind the physiotherapists’ door at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in 2016 was a patient’s rowing machine leader board. Ben Pritchard was 24 years old and recently injured in a cycling accident that left him paralysed from the ribcage down when he discovered it – a life-changing moment. He’d hated his first experiences of rowing for rehab, but now there was a challenge, all that was about to change.
It was like a red rag to a bull and I knew then that I was going to try to leave Stoke Mandeville with my name at the top of that list.
It’s no been eight years since multi-medal-winning rower Ben took a chance on the sport. He discovered striking similarities between it and cycling, which he’d loved so much – the taste of iron in the mouth, the mental tenacity required to go hard for as long as you can, and then go harder.
When he took to the water in Tokyo, representing Britain for his Paralympic debut, he brought not only a lifetime of sporting prowess that began at a local yacht club in Wales but that same mental grit that propelled him up the leaderboard at Stoke Mandeville.
Ben came fifth at the delayed games. Since then, he has achieved multiple World Championship podiums and in his last event before Paris, clinched his first world gold at the 2024 World Rowing Cup in Poland. Now qualified the PR1 Men’s single for Paris he is aiming to improve on his Tokyo performance.
A Paralympic medal is always at the forefront of this sportsman’s mind. He says he doesn’t turn up for training motivated by a bronze medal – it will always be the gold – but he acknowledges a win will be “an accumulation of everything”.
“This journey isn’t just about getting to the Paralympic Games; it’s also about the journey I’ve come from, which began with me lying in a hospital bed,” he says. “I want to end that chapter, the one where I’m wondering, ‘Am I doing well enough after my injury, have I dealt with my injury?’ It’s what I ask myself every day – am I living life to the best of my ability?
Even if I don’t cross that line with a medal, I’ve still succeeded. I’m here now at the pinnacle of my sport. I’ve managed everything to do with a spinal cord injury.
After years spent competing in triathlon and cycling, Ben was at peak fitness when he was injured. In his darkest moments, he wondered if he would ever compete again and remembers breaking down when his first sports session at Stoke Mandeville was cancelled.
“I’d been really looking forward to it,” he says. “Sport was on Tuesday. I hadn’t done anything for two months. I thought, if I could make it until Tuesday, I would be OK. There was a sign saying that sport was cancelled. I was in the corridor and just burst into tears. It broke me. It was the lowest point in my entire journey.”
Thankfully, that journey was about to take a different route. Weeks later, just before he was due to leave hospital, representatives from British Rowing visited the gym and noticed a considerable improvement in Ben’s skill since their previous visit. “It was the kind of thing they noted,” he remembers. “They must’ve thought, let’s keep this guy on our side. Luckily, they got to see me in that week before I left. I say everything happens for a reason and fate plays a large part in life.”
Ben puts a lot of stock in fate, but he gives more credit to the team at Stoke Mandeville – the birthplace of the Paralympic movement – for getting him to where he is today.
“The spinal centre places a huge emphasis on sport and the benefits to newly injured people. For those going through rehab, the physios and doctors there or at any spinal centre are world-class,” he says. “They won’t try to push you all to go to the Paras, but they will open doors and encourage you to try different things. They’re there to help you. I know from personal experience that it feels they’re pushing you in directions you don’t want to go or too far. I know it’s annoying and frustrating but bear with them. They’re doing it for you.”
Photos: @ParalympicsGB
Story first published in FORWARD Autumn 2021 (Updated: August 2024)
This story appeared in previous issue of our magazine FORWARD. The only magazine dedicated to the spinal cord injury community. With fascinating and thought-provoking lifestyle features and the latest news and research, the high-quality publication covers topics such as health, daily living, employment, relationships and family, sport and travel.
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