Since 2024, the Boulonnais urban community has financed sports equipment for athletes with disabilities. To date, seven associations have benefited from this system, notably in Boulogne sur-mer where the canoe club has acquired a two-seater canoe.
« Come on, let’s go! », Martin Diatta was several times French para-canoe champion. Until then, he trained in a single-seater canoe. But since last year, the Boulogne club where he is licensed has provided him with a two-seater canoe, designed for competition.
A canoe to perform together
Fully motivated, Martin Diatta embarks on his converted training machine: “ The advantage of a Polynesian canoe is that it has an outrigger. And since there are two of us it also brings speed, power while being stable. It’s also a team sport so it allows both of you to have good feelings. »
Equipment worth 4,300 euros, 50% financed by the Boulonnais urban community. A welcome boost for the club.
Aurélie Accary, president of Boulogne Canoë Kayak, confirms this to us: “ It’s true that we have initiation equipment that adapts somewhat to able-bodied and disabled people, but in canoeing, it’s really more specific. And here, you really need specialized equipment and it’s true that it’s expensive. There aren’t many at the French level because they are fairly typical constructions, so we don’t have a lot of material available.”. »
Specialized, rare and valuable equipment
Change of atmosphere, we enter the training room of the sports shooting club where, rifle on his shoulder, Tom is concentrated as much as possible. Here the targets are electronic. More practical when you are in a wheelchair, as your coach, Cindy Peuvrel, explains to us: “ What we see there is a cardboard box, with a hole in the middle, but in fact it’s electronic. So if it shoots into the black dot in the middle, you won’t see. But you’ll actually see the score he makes on this screen (right next to Tom). In fact, the electronic target is simpler for each shooter, because it actually targets the exact result of the shot.»
Gone is the old mechanical system, which was difficult to operate for people with disabilities. The club invested 17,000 euros out of 27,000 in total in the purchase of 6 targets to open the practice to as many people as possible.
Adapted sports equipment financed by the community
A desire supported by Guy Boutleux, vice-president of the Boulonnais urban community in charge of sports: “ For several years now, things have been moving a little bit at the para-sports level. With the Olympic Games, we still saw results that were quite impressive and so it was important to get into the action. »
An operation which has so far benefited seven associations and which the Boulonnais urban community intends to renew each year.
Report E. Cocq/L.Brimbeuf/R.Pohier from France 3 Hauts-de-France
