THROWDOWN PROVIDES INSPIRATION FOR MORE
Hambo Throwdown winner Jen Warren says involvement in sport and activity has been ‘life-changing’.
The inaugural Throwdown was organised by the Matt Hampson Foundation in 2024 as the UK’s first fitness competition exclusively for wheelchair users and provided a first competitive opportunity following serious illness for Jen, a consultant in the NHS and Army veteran. She returned this year to top the women’s podium at an event hosted by Loughborough University.
“The more you say ‘yes’ the more you find what you are able to do,” she said. “After injury and then illness, you can feel a bit lost and the first Throwdown came at a nice stage for me as I was trying to get back to work and navigate life.
“I had become a powerchair user and I was mourning the loss of my sport, which had been paracanoe, but when the Throwdown came around, I thought I’d give it a go. If I had not said ‘yes’ to that competition two years ago, I wouldn’t have been here again for this one.
Get the most out of it
“It’s not about winning or losing for me, but more about me setting the bar and climbing up from that. One of the most special moments today was not winning but that my daughter said, ‘Two years ago you couldn’t lift 18 kilos and look at you now’.
“The Throwdown also motivated me to join a crossfit gym. I had never had the courage before, but I’m so happy I did. The people have been so accepting and have worked with me to get the most out of things. I am so grateful to them. This is a springboard into something that has really changed my life.”
Jen’s original link with the Foundation was participation in a section of a handcycle relay from Land’s End to John O’Groats and she acknowledges the impact of its ‘get busy living’ mantra in everyday life.
She says: “‘Get Busy Living’ has been a real crutch to me. It is tough but life is about what you have rather than thinking what you haven’t got. I like how ‘get busy living’ is not defined – it is what you make it.”
