Please consider supporting the WSRC Para team as they travel to Belgrade, Serbia to represent Team USA and race in the 2023 World Championships taking place September 3rd - 10th! Andrew Mangan will be racing in the PR1 Men's Single Sculls and Maddy Eberhard will be racing in the PR2 Mixed Double Sculls with her pair partner, Russell Gernaat. This year's World Championship is a qualification event for the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games!
Andrew Mangan
I started rowing in high school, following in the footsteps of my four older siblings and
parents. For three years, I fell in love with the sport, stroking the Canisius High School Fours and Eights to various medals. However, during my junior year, I experienced a freak accident that resulted in a broken neck, initially leaving me paralyzed from the neck down.
Through determination, hard work, and luck, I managed to regain enough movement to return to rowing as an adaptive para-rower. Despite my injury, I tried to rejoin my original
rowing team without adaptations a year later, but I no longer possessed the physical ability to compete at the level I once did. It was at this point that Alice Henderson, from the BIAC rowing club near Stanford University in California, introduced me to the world of para-rowing.
While attending college, I made progress in adaptive rowing thanks to the guidance and
support I received from Alice. However, it wasn't until the COVID-19 pandemic forced me to
return home to Buffalo that I truly dedicated myself to training and competing. It was during
this time that I connected with Sasha Bailey, and under her guidance, I have been training at
the West Side Rowing Club for the past three summers. I am incredibly grateful for the
unwavering support that Sasha and the club have provided me.
My sights are currently set on the 2023 World Championships, where I hope to qualify
for the 2024 Paris Paralympics. Initially, after my injury, my goal was simply to return to
rowing, but it wasn't until Sasha and Alice introduced me to para-rowing that I realized I could compete again in the sport I love.
Participating in adaptive sports, especially para-rowing, comes with significant expenses.
Access to coaching, equipment, and resources played a crucial role in enabling me to train at a competitive level. With the help of grants, I was able to purchase my own personalized
equipment after being able to learn what specifically I needed in a sport that requires so much customization. To date, I have received funding from various philanthropic organizations such as: Buffalo Hall of Fame, High Fives Foundation, Challenged Athletes Foundation (2023), and National Rowing Foundation (2023).
Andrew also posts regularly about his progress on his blog which can be found
here!
Maddy Eberhard
My name is Maddy Eberhard and I am a member of the US Para National Rowing Team. I began rowing in 2017 for the West Side Rowing Club in Buffalo, NY. My experience competing at the international level of sports began in 2015 when I started playing for the US Women’s Para Ice Hockey Team. The impact of adaptive sports has forever altered my life, emphasizing my desire to provide these opportunities to others.
Upon starting my rowing career at West Side, the knowledge of para rowing was minimal. There was an absence of an adaptive rowing program, so I actively competed for the High-School Junior program. I embraced the sport without any specific adaptations to accommodate my disability. After a year at the club, I grew an extreme passion for the sport, but it was difficult to keep up with my peers due to the limited range of motion in my legs. Fortunately, the dedicated staff at West Side was just as passionate as I was about getting in touch with adaptive rowing coaches and mentors around the country. This led me down the path of getting classified in the sport, purchasing specialized equipment, and most importantly, a coach that was open to learning this new side of the sport.
Shortly after discovering the world of para rowing, I competed in the World Rowing Championships in 2019 in Linz, Austria. I finished in 4th place in the PR2 Womens 1x event. Further accomplishments include Canadian Henley gold in the 500m dash and 2k in both 2019 and 2022. A gold medal at the Head of the Charles in the PR2 mixed 2x in 2019. USRowing Summer Nationals gold in the PR2 Womens 1x in 2021. Second place in the Blackwall Duling Challenge for adaptive rowing in 2022. And most recently, first place in 2023 NSR’s in the PR2 mixed 2x, qualifying for the International Para Rowing Regatta that was held in June in Gavirate, Italy.
In the foreseeable future, my goal is to compete in the 2023 World Rowing Championships and qualify the United States for the 2024 Paralympics. This event showcases top rowing talent from around the world, providing an ideal platform to test my skills on an international stage. I want to compete against other elite athletes to assess my performance at a global level. Not only is it crucial that I qualify for and compete at the World Rowing Championships, but I also need to attain a top 6 finish in this event. Team USA's qualification for the PR2 Mixed 2x event at Paris 2024 is determined by the 2023 World Championships.
Future aspirations I have are to compete in the 2028 Paralympics in Los Angeles and make it on the podium. Along the way I would like to assist in growing both Para Rowing and Women’s Para Ice Hockey, which is not yet a Paralympic sport. I want to help develop the teams in other countries so that the women of the sport can showcase their abilities at the Paralympics.
Growing a sport begins at the local level, which is why West Side’s expansion of its Adaptive Rowing Program is so critical. Athletes need a place to start and there are very few rowing clubs in the country that offer equipment and knowledge on adaptive rowing. Getting involved in this sport has changed my life forever, and I would like to extend that opportunity to other determined, aspiring athletes. To date, I have received funding from various philanthropic organizations such as: Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame Grant, Blackwall Duling Challenge, CAF Grant, and PRF 2023 Travel Grant for the Gavirate International Para Rowing Regatta.
