Peter Cowan - Para Athlete

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Clips of Peter Cowan doing various activities

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Peter Cowan – “At the time I was training for the Iron Māori triathlon with a few of my cousins. And I was assigned to do the bike so I'd bike to school every day. And I was coming home getting ready to make a right turn. Turn my head for about a split second to check the traffic behind me and I got clipped by an oncoming vehicle.”

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Peter Cowan sitting in a room

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Peter Cowan using the cycling machine in the gym

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Peter Cowan - "The initial impact had split my quad open. I was conscious for most of the accident.”

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Peter Cowan standing outside the house leaning on the letter box

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Peter Cowan – “Hi, I'm Peter Cowan and I'm above the knee amputee. I'm from Hastings and I'm a Para Va'a athlete.”

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Peter Cowan sitting in the room

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Peter Cowan – “Para Va'a is a division of Va'a itself, which is Waka Ama to us locally here in New Zealand. It's a canoe sprint sport. I got into paddling when I was at high school in my last year. Paddling for the first time I was 'oh this is cool'.”

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Clips of Peter Cowan carrying his canoe into the water and rowing it

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Peter Cowan sitting in the room

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Peter Cowan – “I can do it. It's kinda like the first piece of sporting or like physical activity I've done in a while since having the leg off. I think I found something that helped me in my rehabilitation.”

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Clips of Peter Cowan untying the canoe from top of the car and putting it back by the shed

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Peter Cowan sitting in the room

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Peter Cowan – “At first, I thought it was like a whole physical thing but it was more a mental thing for me -”

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Clips of Peter Cowan exercising in the gym

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Peter Cowan – “getting on the water and combining it with off-water training and I was getting an endorphin boost, feeling good about myself. What I love about the sport is being able to meet new people.”

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Peter Cowan rowing the canoe

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Peter Cowan – “I love how it connects a lot of people doing it.”

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Peter Cowan making himself a hot drink in the kitchen

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Peter Cowan – “So I got a lot of equipment from ACC, which helped me go through rehab.”

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Peter Cowan playing his guitar in an outdoor setting

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Peter Cowan - “Bath benches, crutches wheelchairs, chucking in a ramp, redoing a bathroom.”

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Peter Cowan exercising in the gym and then canoeing

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Peter Cowan – “I think sport in general - if I didn't take the opportunities that were there for me,”

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Peter Cowan sitting in the room

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Peter Cowan – “it might have been a bit different, to be honest.”

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Clips of Peter Cowan exercising in the gym

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Peter Cowan – “The advice I'd give is just give it a go. I'd encourage them to just jump in, the trust will build up along the way because there's”

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Peter Cowan in the gym

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Peter Cowan – “opportunities out there for everyone. I think it's just a matter of actively searching for it.”

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Text appears: “Get started in Para sport – at any level” – “paralympics.org.nz”

Website address under the text:

paralympics.org.nz

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Paralympics New Zealand and ACC logo appears side-to-side

Text appears under both the logos: “Proudly supporting Paralympics New Zealand”