The Brits were invited to cross the Pond for one of the preparatory events leading up to the biggest adaptive sports fixture in the calendar for US personnel.
The games are an annual contest run by the US Department of Defense for hundreds of military personnel – US Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, Coast Guard and US Special Operations Command – competing in adaptive sports as part of their recovery journey.
To prepare, the US Navy runs a series of taster events in the months leading up the July games – this year in Colorado Springs – allowing seriously ill, wounded and injured sailors and Coast Guard personnel to sample, train and compete in 11 adaptive sports.
A team of athletes (Lt Ian Toms, CPO Mike Beavis, PO Sam Faulkner, LHs Chris Ryan and Richard Harrington, and ABs Ronnie Evans, Rachel Davis, Alys Wightman, Harrison Dowson, George Rowe and Caitlyn Sewdan) and staff (WO1 Colin Smith, CPO Lee Murray and Cpl Kyle Woods) were invited to take part in the two weeks of trials at Fort Belvoir in Washington DC.
All 11 athletes are on the RN Recovery Pathway and have been facing various personal challenges of their own with a focus on regaining full fitness.
The Brits competed in each of the individual disciplines and supplemented/played alongside US teams in every team event. Sports covered included: swimming, track, field, wheelchair rugby, cycling, power lifting, rowing, sitting volleyball, wheelchair basketball, archery and pistol/rifle shooting.
“We had significant success in various events, including achieving first, second, fourth and fifth place finishes in cycling, two first places and a third in individual archery and a team first – alongside various achievements in track, field and in the pool,” said WO1 Smith.