Some of Stockport Harriers’ elite wheelchair athletes have been selected to take part in the London Disability Athletics Challenge at the Olympic Stadium on 8 May. This event is part of the UK Athletics' (UKA) series of grand prix events in the UK, an opportunity for British disabled athletes to compete against other top athletes from around the world, while simultaneously testing out the track and field facilities at the Olympic Stadium.
Stockport coach Rick Hoskins, who set up the wheelchair athletes group just over two years ago, has worked as wheelchair coach to the Great Britain team, and was invited to put together a 4 × 400m relay team for the challenge. The team will include Stockport athletes Stuart Bloor, Anthony Booth and Anthony Gotts, alongside Ross Low from Glasgow’s Red Star club. This will be Stuart’s second visit to the Olympic Stadium – on 31 March he made history by winning the Sport Relief five-mile race and becoming the first person to cross the Olympic Stadium’s finishing line. He will also compete in the 1500m and the 100m for class T54 athletes, which fellow Stockport Harrier Kirsty Grange will also take part in. Kirsty and Stuart were selected by UK Athletics based on their UK rankings.
Most of our wheelchair athletes are relatively new to the sport but their incredible dedication has led to many fantastic results. The squad also has some other tremendous opportunities coming up over the year ahead and are on the lookout for sponsorship and other types of funding. If anyone reading this works for a company who may be interested in sponsoring some of the UK’s most successful wheelchair athletes, please contact hrrjosk40ten [at] aol [dot] com (Rick). It’s a great opportunity to associate your company with a thriving team which includes some potential Paralympians.