It was an amazing feeling to cross the finish line
The People's Friend|September 10, 2022
Gilly Pickup chats to Kelda Wood, the first solo para-rower to cross the Atlantic Ocean.
It was an amazing feeling to cross the finish line

KELDA WOOD founded the charity "Climbing Out" in 2010, to help rebuild confidence and motivation in those suffering mental or physical trauma or illness.

Eight years earlier, a bale of hay had fallen on her, leaving the sportswoman with an irreparable leg injury, ending her dreams of becoming an Olympic rider.

"I felt lost not being able to play sport, and became frustrated and bitter about my injury," Kelda reveals.

"I felt that I'd lost the thing that defined who I was."

From 2013 to 2016 she trained intensely as a para-canoeist, but failed to make the Rio Olympic team.

"That was when I was contacted by the Adaptive Grand Slam Team about climbing Aconcagua, South America's highest peak," she says.

"I desperately wanted to go, but it was only when I found special crutches made for mountain-climbing that I was able to complete it in 2017."

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