Rowers who compete in Malta's National Regatta organised and took part in a half-marathon indoor rowing event, aimed at bringing their sport closer to people with disability.

The event brought together eight Maltese rowers, most of whom practice rowing in Malta and overseas, who spent their morning rowing at Dar tal-Providenza.

"We wanted to row this half marathon at Dar tal-Providenza to try and encourage the residents to try this sport out for themselves" says Jan Tanti, one of the rowers. "We were over the moon to see some of the residents try rowing, and equally pleased to see that, with some training, some of them will be able to row rather well."

Joseph Grima, President of Malta Rowing Association, acknowledged that an event like this requires significant effort from the participants, but said that they were more than happy to do their part to help kick-start the project of pararowing in Malta.

"We want to share our passion for rowing with others who may find difficulty to practice sport due to some form of disability. Rowing, particularly Indoor Rowing, is an excellent sport for people with a wide range of abilities. I am extremely delighted that my fellow rowers share my vision on the need to promote para/adaptive rowing in Malta and I am honoured that they have taken the initiative to start raising the necessary funds to finance the purchase of rowing ergometers to be used by the residents of Dar tal-Providenza," he said.

A Dar tal-Providenza statement read that the Malta Rowing Association has already started to include adaptive rowing events in its National Indoor Rowing Championships and this initiative will hopefully provide the impetus to more get people with a wider range of abilities into the sport of rowing. "