Stockport Harriers' wheelchair athletes section set up 2 years ago by Rick Hoskins with just 1 athlete Jade Smethurst now has a total of 7 athletes including Stuart Bloor, Anthony Booth, Kirsty Grange, Anthony Gotts, Abi Ireland, and Jake Stanway.
The team will shortly have Mickey Bushell, who is world record holder for the T53 100 metres, joining them for training sessions at Woodbank Stadium. Mickey was one of the athletes Rick was with at the IPC World Championships in Christchurch earlier this year.
Both Stuart Bloor and Kirsty Grange were in action in the Swansea Bay 10km which Stuart won in 26-54 and Kirsty 4th in 49-12. Stuart was also in action in the Birmingham Half Marathon where he finished second in 62-24 while Anthony Booth was 4th in 1-19-28.
The wheelchairs that the athletes use are expensive costing approx £3,000 while the carbon wheels cost around £1,200, so it isn't a cheap sport!
The athletes at Stockport are all relatively new to the sport with the exception of Anthony Booth who has returned to the sport after a long absence.
All the athletes are now into their winter training and Rick is looking forward to a great season for them all next year.