Katie Crowhurst - How Lockdown Inspired a Sporting Switch

Britain is widely seen as the birthplace of the Paralympic movement, with the creation of the Stoke Mandeville Games which first took place on the opening day of the 1948 London Olympic Games.

The event, invented by Dr Ludwig Guttmann, was rebranded as the Paralympic Games from 1960 and 42 years on from that competition para-sport was integrating into the Commonwealth Games for the first time at Manchester 2002.

Twenty years on from that landmark competition Birmingham 2022 will see the largest-ever Para-sport programme ever seen at a Commonwealths.

Ex-swimmer turned para-triathlete Katie Crowhurst is among those aiming to showcase her new sport it appears at a Commonwealths on home soil for the first time.

“It’s very exciting,” she tells the Women’s Sports Alliance (WSA). “It’s a great opportunity and something that I and the whole team is really looking forward to.”

Q – We know you have been a keen swimmer for many years, but were you interested in any other sports while growing up?

“Swimming has been the main thing I’ve done, but my parents always tried to get me into as much outside activity as I could, so I did do some gymnastics and dance when I was younger and continued doing athletics with my club.

“They were great to keep my fitness up and I enjoyed all of them in my free time.”

Q – You were breaking into the British team before the outbreak of Covid-19. How challenging was the pandemic for you?

“It was very tough and it was devastating when you’re working towards big goals and then all of a sudden they’re not there by the flick of a switch and it’s like ‘what do I do with myself now?’.”

“I had GCSE’s and A-LEVEL’s but sport was something I loved and it was no longer there so I was stuck no longer knowing what to do which was devastating. It’s so hard, but you just have to pick yourself up and figure out how to continue.”

Q – How did you pick yourself up?

“With lockdown I still did swim training, but obviously I couldn’t be in the pool, so I was trying to do the extra things, to keep myself entertained so I wouldn’t be bored or lazy.

“I’d do the running, cycling which kept me motivated each day.”

Q – How did the switch from swimming to triathlon come about?

“I’ve done swimming since I was a baby and always had a love for it, but like a lot of people lockdown got in the way and I began really enjoying everything I was doing with my athletics club as well as cycling.

“My parents had kept in touch with some of the GB triathlon coaches and when I stopped the swimming they mentioned the option of triathlon so I decided it sounded fun and with the three disciplines it could be a new challenge.

“I enjoyed it and triathlon gave me a new fire in my belly.”