Harris and Sonar crew take gold at Marina da Gloria

NSWIS sailor Jon Harris (pictured on left) and his Australian teammates Colin Harrison and Russell Boaden have enjoyed a victory lap of sorts on their way to the gold medal in the Sonar, three-person kneelboat, at the Rio Paralympics.

The Australian trio had already wrapped up the gold medal with a race to spare so the 11^th and final race of their regatta at Marina da Gloria had no bearing on their overall result as they cruised home in tenth place.

Knowing they could afford to drop the result – the points standings include a crew’s top ten results, dropping their worst – the Australians had nothing to fear. They had already racked up three wins, four seconds and a third to set up a remarkable victory.

Altogether the Australian crew tallied just 26 points to comfortably account for the USA on 44 and Canada on 51.

For NSWIS’s Harris – a grandfather who turns 61 next month – it was a wonderful result from his second Paralympic Games.

Harris suffered severe injuries to both his hands in a science lab explosion when he was 16 and while he has maintained a life on the water since the accident more than four decades ago, including completing the Sydney to Hobart and several international regattas, nothing in his career can match the achievements of the past ten days.