WSRC Para Fundraiser

We need your help sending two of our WSRC Para athletes to this year’s Final Paralympic Qualification Regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland! Both Maddy Eberhard and Andrew Mangan will be racing on May 19th-21st for Team USA in a final attempt to qualify the United States for the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games. Eberhard will be racing in the PR2 Mixed Double Sculls with her partner Russell Gernaat, and Mangan will be racing in the PR1 Men’s Single Sculls.

Maddy Eberhard

My training with the West Side Rowing Club began in 2017 where I competed on the WSRC Junior team. This was not my first introduction to sports however, as my disability brought me to Sled Hockey when I was just 8 years old. I always had a competitive nature which drove me to becoming the youngest on the US Women’s Sled Hockey Team at 13. Competing for Team USA is a huge part of who I am today.

During high school, I wanted to join a sport that allowed me to compete with my peers. Rowing at West Side provided me the opportunity to do just that. I fell in love with the sport, and knew I discovered a new passion of mine. However, it was becoming 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 continuing my participation in the sport. They helped me with getting in touch with adaptive rowing mentors around the country, getting classified in the sport, purchasing specialized equipment, and most importantly, a coach that was open to learning this new side of the sport. Sasha Bailey has been my coach since making the Para National Team in 2019, and has tremendously impacted my rowing career. Without her help and the staff at WSRC, I would not be where I am today!

My Para Rowing National Team introduction began at 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 2019, 2022 and 2023. A gold medal at the Head of the Charles in 2019, USRowing Summer Nationals gold in 2021, and 10th place in the 2023 World Rowing Championships in Belgrade, Serbia.

With your generous support I am able to compete at the highest level of competition in our sport. To date, I have received funding from various philanthropic organizations such as: Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame Grant (2022), Blackwall Duling (2022 and 2023), Challenged Athletes Foundation (2023), Para Rowing Foundation (2023), and AirBnb (2024).

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 2024 Final Olympic and Paralympic Qualification Regatta in Lucerne, Italy, 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 currently lives in Austin, Texas and rows out of Texas Rowing Center High Performance. He also posts regularly about his progress on his blog which can be found here!

The West Side Rowing Club is a non-profit organization run by volunteers whose purpose is the advancement of the physical, mental, and moral well being of the youth of the City of Buffalo, New York and surrounding communities by education, training, instruction, and participation in the art of rowing and other athletic pursuits.