James Mumford had a fabulous race, taking gold in a mixed double. Linda Mumford came in fourth out of the six boats in the same race, also in a mixed double. They are jubilant, and while the medal is wonderful, what they're really celebrating is the fact that they have come here to do something they love, despite challenges that might daunt others without the same can-do spirit.
James was born with only two percent vision in his right eye, and none in his left. Linda has no vision at all. She suffers a progressive genetic disease that left her blind at the age of 40. She became totally deaf four years ago, but a cochlear implant has allowed her to gain back some of the hearing in her right ear.
Their race was an adaptive race for people with disabilities. With the help of volunteers, equipment, and able-bodied rowers, they are able to compete. James rowed with Denise Cenit, an able-bodied rower from the Passaic River Rowing Association in Nutley, New Jersey. Linda's partner was Mike Wagner from the Sagamore Rowing Association in Oyster Bay, New York.
James and Linda belong to the Argonaut Rowing Club in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. "We like to sweep in fours and eights, singles, doubles and quads, anything we can get our hands on, we just want to row," explains James. How does a person with no sight row in a single? "We have an FM transmitter," explains James, "and somebody follows me in a launch with the transmitter and a microphone. I have a receiver with a headset. My partner speaks out commands like 'hard on port, hard on starboard' if I need to make corrections on the course."
Linda rows the same way. "When we row doubles together in the same boat, it's the same method." she says. "We each have two oars. Barry Shaw is our guide and coach, and he sits in the other boat and calls out commands to help us go in the right direction."
James and Linda met in 2004 on a cross country skiing trip in British Columbia through an outreach group called Ski for Light, that helps disabled people ski. "For him, it was instant liking," smiles Linda, "but for me, it took five days. We ski all week, working with our guides one-one, and then on the last night we have a banquet. And that night happened to be Valentine's Day."
James picks up the story from there. "When she came into the banquet I gave her a red rose and asked her to be my Valentine." "I was falling for him before," says Linda, "but after he gave me the red rose, Cupid hit me with a dozen arrows and we were married a year later."
For their honeymoon, they went to the Craftsbury Sculling Camp in Vermont. James had started rowing in 2001 after the Argonaut Rowing Club had started up its first learn-to-row program for people with disabilities. "We liked it so much we went back last year for our first anniversary," says Linda. It was there that they met Mike, her mixed double partner. A volunteer coach at Sagamore in sculling, he was at Craftsbury as a coach.
The day before James won gold at the FISA Masters, he won gold in the single at the Bayada Regatta in Philadelphia, a national adaptive event that included 57 rowers with different kinds of disabilities. James has high praise for the course at Mercer Lake, which is very user-friendly to an adaptive rower. "It's a beautiful venue, very well-organized. All the volunteers, staff, they made sure we got around okay. There were no barriers or obstacles. It's very well done here. It's a good feeling."
Does the couple that row together stay together? James laughs. "Linda wants to row until we reach the age of 104 and then we'll call it quits." That's another 51 years, a solid run for anyone.
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