CASHMORE Claire

Classification
PTS5 (ITU, 25 Jun 2021)

Type of Impairment
Limb deficiency (lessonsinbadassery.com, 17 Feb 2021)

Origin of Impairment
Congenital (lessonsinbadassery.com, 17 Feb 2021)

Impairment Details
She was born without her left forearm and hand. (lessonsinbadassery.com, 17 Feb 2021)

General
SWIMMING TO TRIATHLON
She won her seventh and eighth Paralympic medals in swimming at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. In September 2017 she announced that she would be switching sports to pursue a career in Para triathlon. "I had always wanted to give triathlon a go so when I saw it was making its debut in 2016, I decided I would love to get involved. After Rio 2016, it seemed like the best time to transition into triathlon, to give myself a Paralympic cycle to learn the tricks of the trade. It was a huge leap outside of my comfort zone but it was 100% the right decision. I am now juggling the demands of three sports rather than just one. Time-wise I am probably spending a similar amount of time training, however across the three elements, and it is the variety that I love. I'm not sure how I used to do 20 hours in the pool a week, although I did spend all my time walking around like a zombie." (paralympics.org.uk, 05 Nov 2020; lessonsinbadassery.com, 17 Feb 2021; thetimes.co.uk, 28 Oct 2017; clairecashmore.com, 11 Sep 2017)

COVID-19 IMPACT
During the COVID-19 pandemic she and her partner David Ellis, who is also a British Para triathlete, built a makeshift swimming treadmill in their back garden using a small pool and a bungee cord that they tied around their waists. She believes that the disruption to training caused by the pandemic has affected triathletes less than athletes in many other sports. "In some ways I've enjoyed adapting and changing the sessions, not having to fit within the usual squad timetable. The flexibility of being able to train when it suits, really mixing it up and taking ownership of what I'm doing allows me to learn about how I'm setting up my week and what works best. As triathletes, everything we do racing and training is about being adaptable, it is something we're used to. I'm not saying it's easy, but I think slightly easier than other sports." She says the postponement of the 2020 Paralympic Games allowed her to make progress with running. "Coming from a swimming background, you're not necessarily made for the land, and running is not always the easiest thing on your joints. It has given me the extra time to really build that up, particularly when I wasn't allowed to swim. I also had so much more time and energy for the bike side of things, which has helped push on my performance." (220triathlon.com, 03 Jun 2021; paralympic.org, 18 Jun 2020; triathlon.org, 06 May 2020)

AUTHOR
In June 2021 she released a children's book called 'Splash'. The book is based on her own experiences and tells the story of a girl with an upper limb deficiency who conquers a fear of water. "Something I've always been quite passionate about is disability representation, and the lack of it, and how we can have more role models out there with a disability in the media, in books, all that kind of stuff. So I was like, right. I need rather than to just keep talking about this, I actually need to do something, and try to normalise disability as much as possible by it existing in all areas of life." (harpercollins.co.uk, 10 Jun 2021; times-series.co.uk, 10 Mar 2021)

FURTHER EDUCATION
She has completed a master's degree in leadership and management at Northumbria University in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. (kidderminstershuttle.co.uk, 25 Feb 2017; LinkedIn profile, 28 Jul 2021)