LA JOLLA \u2013 Looking back at the distance you\u2019ve already covered \u2014 that\u2019s what Gabby Bigler does as she and sculls partner Kate Rasmussen row 2,000 meters toward the finish line, facing backwards. <\/p>\n
But it\u2019s also a metaphor for the long way the sturdy oarswoman has already come in her young life. She rows by faith, not by sight.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m focused on my breathing and staying relaxed,\u201d says the rising high school junior of her rowing position. \u201cI\u2019m aware of my breathing and my technique \u2014 the position of the blades (on her oars).\u201d<\/p>\n
Rasmussen, behind her, is facing her backside in the bow seat of the two-person scull. They both have two oars. Rasmussen is looking over her shoulder to keep an eye on the floating buoys and keep the boat in their lane. She steers while she pulls.<\/p>\n
The two powered their scull over the waters fast enough to win gold at the U.S. Rowing Youth National Championships in the PR3 Inclusive. Bigler says conditions were rough in Sarasota, Florida: \u201cEverything is hot. You\u2019re sweaty. Your hands are sweaty on the (oar) handles.\u201d<\/p>\n
The PR3 Inclusive race pairs an athlete with a visual or physical impairment with an able-bodied athlete. Bigler was born with aniridia<\/a>, a rare eye condition that limits how much detail she can detect. But she functions at a high level in the classroom by sitting in the front and taking photos of the whiteboard in AP math with her phone, then enlarging the image to read the details.<\/p>\n When a photographer visited to take photos of Bigler on her \u201cerg,\u201d or ergometer, a rowing machine that sits on the ground, she put her face close to her tablet to call up the file with her erg workout on it.<\/p>\n