A team of British athletes are set to make history at this year's World Indoor Rowing Championships. The athletes - who are all paraplegics without the use of their legs - will demonstrate stunning new life-changing technology which allows them to move and row alongside able bodied athletes. The Great Britain FES (Functional Electrical Stimulation) Rowing Team is certain to capture the imagination of competitors and spectators alike when they compete in a demonstration race at this year's 25th anniversary CRASH-B World Indoor Championship. Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) rowing is a groundbreaking technology that could and should change the lives of many paraplegics in the future. A pre-programmed multi-channel electronic stimulator sends electrical pulses via electrodes placed on the skin over the paralysed leg muscles. An international team of researchers and test pilots have collaborated to successfully integrate FES with a normal Concept 2 rowing machine. These researchers come from; in the UK Oxford Brookes, Brunel, Glasgow and the Open Universities, the Charity DEMAND and in Canada, the University of Alberta in Edmonton. Besides the multi-channel electrical stimulator and a telescopic leg stabilizer, the seat has been adapted to provide sufficient postural support for rowers who have impaired balance (as is the case in most persons with Spinal Cord Injury). Pressing or releasing a switch on the handlebar controls the rowing motion. Pressing the switch leads to contraction of the quadriceps in the drive phase and releasing the switch activates the hamstrings during the recovery phase. Since the rower himself controls the timing of this stimulation, he can synchronize the action of the legs with the movement of his upper body. This enables paraplegic rowers to perform a full rowing motion, just like any able-bodied rower. The technology offers many health benefits for persons with Spinal Cord Injury since FES-rowing is the only exercise currently available where the whole body gets a good workout. This is important as it is only with this type of exercise that the required higher intensities and volumes can be reached that are essential in a healthy life style and which prevent the need for preventative drugs for common ailments like cardiovascular disease and diabetes II. The team racing the full 2,000metres will include Captain Robin Gibbons, Sol Solomou, Sarah Orr and Kevin Brooks For further information on the FES project, check out the following website: http://www.fesrowing.org