GB Rowers Support Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability

On Thursday 23 June 2011, the top floor of City Hall will be filled with GB Olympian rowers, sports players and other celebrity spectators watching city teams compete in the fundraising challenge, “Row Hard for Neuro-disability”, sponsored by Stanford Resourcing. 
 
40 teams from the City’s biggest names will battle it out on rowing machines, pushing for the fastest time in a 2000m relay, each vying for the top spot as they are cheered on by GB Rowing Olympians – who will be showing competitors and spectators how it is done, before the teams take their turn to claim the top spot. 
 
Now in its second year, “Row Hard”, is raising vital funds for the Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability. This year the fundraising target is £25,000, and money raised will be used to help pay for assistive technology, which gives patients and residents the crucial gift of communication, often lost after a serious trauma to the brain. This may include, for example, specialist eyegaze technology which allows those who cannot move the ability to speak through a computer simply by using their eyes. 
 
Attending the event is Louisa Reeve, who came sixth in the Women’s Pairs in Beijing and fourth in the Women’s Eight at last year’s World Championships; she says: 
 
“Last year’s event was a huge success and loads of fun. This year is set to be bigger and better – a perfect opportunity for a fun evening combined with fundraising for a very worthwhile charity.”
 
Louisa will be joined by other members of the GB Olympic Rowing team, including Debbie Flood, Hester Goodsell, Charles Cousins, Tash Page, Cam Nicholl and Adam Freeman-Pask, to name a few. To add extra pressure to the city teams, other spectators will include Former English and Wasps RFU player Phil Greening as well as a number of surprise guests. 
 
This year, Stanford Resourcing is kindly sponsoring the event, Mark Gibbard-Jones, Managing Director says: 
 
“We are proud to sponsor the 2011 Row Hard event that will no doubt build upon the success of last year and become a permanent fixture in the City sporting calendar!”
 
If you fancy a challenge and would like to register a team, visit www.rhnrowhard.org.uk it is just £100 for a team of four (including food and drink). Alternatively, if you prefer to cheer with the celebrities, the cost is just £20 per person and includes food and an alcoholic drink – please call Anna Wall-Budden on 020 8780 4565 to reserve your place!