Obscure Sports - Amazing Athletes
- inspiredthroughsport
- Jul 10, 2018
- 4 min read
We support athletes from all over the spectrum of sports which Great Britain competes in and we thought it was about time we celebrated some of the athletes we help who come from relatively unknown and obscure sports…
Luge – Adam Rosen
Luge is a sport which is part of the Winter Olympics; it sees one or two athletes racing on a small sled down an ice track. The athletes speed down the track in a supine position on a sled (face up) and feet-first. Whereas a skeleton athlete moves their head and body to steer the skeleton, luger steers by using their calf muscles to flex the sled's runners or by exerting opposite shoulder pressure to the seat. The fastest recorded speed by a luger was 96 mph in 2010! Lugers compete against a timer in one of the most precisely timed sports in the world—to one one-thousandth of a second.
Our athlete, Adam Rosen, is the most successful British luger having placed 6th at the World Cup in 2008 and having competed in three Winter Olympics, as well as numerous World Championships. Adam had to display a huge level of resilience and mental strength as he received a serious injury back in 2009 where he dislocated his hip and suffered serious nerve damage. Despite this, he has continued to have a long career in luge, including representing GB in the 2018 Winter Olympics.
Freestyle Kayaking – Heidi Walsh
Many people will be familiar with competitive kayaking where the aim is to race through the course as quickly as possible, but you may not be aware of its sister sport, ‘Freestyle Kayaking’. GB Freestyle describe the sport, saying “Freestyle paddlers use white water waves and holes to perform surf and gymnastic-style manoeuvres and tricks. The sport uses short kayaks designed to surf and spin across the water surface, and release up into the air. In competitions, freestyle kayakers gain points for every different rotation they perform (vertical (cartwheels), horizontal (spins), barrel rolls (airscrews) and somersaults (loops)), with bonus points awarded if they can get their boat out of the water and up into the air. Competition runs last for 45 seconds in which competitors have to perform as many different moves as possible. Each different move scores points and the highest overall score wins”.
Heidi Walsh is a 20 year old GB Freestyle Kayak athlete who has represented Great Britain at numerous tournaments, including the World Championships. Heidi became involved with Inspired Through Sport as, unfortunately, freestyle kayaking is currently self-funded, which means that Heidi has to raise the money to represent her country. We’re very proud to support Heidi and be helping her on her journey to success.
Modern Pentathlon – Joe Choong
We’re all aware of the triathlon (swimming, cycling and running), and (thanks to Jessica Ennis-Hill) we know the heptathlon quite well too (a brutal combination of track and field events), but many won’t know anything about the modern pentathlon….The modern pentathlon is an Olympic sport that comprises of five different events; fencing, freestyle swimming (200m), equestrian show jumping, and a final combined event of pistol shooting and cross country running (3200m).
It is the perfect combination of skill and endurance!
Although the sport has had a relatively low profile up until now, we don’t think it’ll be long till everyone in Britain is tuning in to watch this amazing sport as GB athlete, Joe Choong, is set to put GB on the modern pentathlon map! In 2010, Joe became the first GB athlete to win the European under-16 title. He’s gone on to win, and retain all sorts of British titles (junior and senior), as well as making his mark on the international stage qualifying for the Rio Olympics and placing 4th at a 2016 world cup event in Rome. It’s exciting to see such brilliant results and performances from such a young athlete, and we can’t wait to see how his sporting career progresses!
Cyclo-cross – Evie Richards
For those of you who don’t know what cyclo-cross is, it’s a cycling sport where athletes race on a course which features pavements, wooded trails, grass, steep hills and obstacles and requires the riders to quickly dismount and carry their bikes whilst navigating the worst obstructions.
Evie Richards is the first British woman to ever to win the under-23 cyclo-cross World Championships – and if that wasn’t enough, she’s done it twice! In both 2016, and 2018 Evie managed to take this title, as well as taking a Silver medal for Team England in the recent Commonwealth Games in the mountain biking event. Cyclo-cross is absolutely brutal and would push anyone to their physical limit – we can only salute Evie for having the kind of determination it must take to become the World Champion in such a demanding sport.
Some people say that they aren’t a ‘sporty person’, but we don’t believe there is such a thing – we think it’s just a case of finding the sport that suits you – that’s what all of these inspiring athletes have done, and just look at what they have gone on to achieve!
Photos from Getty Images
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