Work, Rest and Play!

I felt a bit off colour in the week leading up to the competition, but tailoring my training accordingly helped and the Crusaders registered three wins from three on the Saturday against the Bulls (Newcastle), Pirates (Cardiff) and Dragons (Wrexham) respectively. London’s other club team, Storm had a tougher first day, losing a double overtime heart breaker to the Marauders (Nottingham). However, a three-way tie in pool “A” still saw our counterparts come out on top.

The second day saw both Storm and Crusaders comfortably win their semis to set up an all London final. Both sides had short squads with key players absent but Crusaders had the better match-ups and were able to wear Storm down after a gruelling two days play. It was fitting that the home side took maximum points from the weekend with an emphatic 47-31 victory.

Special mentions go out to Storm’s “Ricky Western” (0.5) and “Chris Ryan” (2.0), who both had outstanding weekends. For a full list of scores go to…

http://www.gbwr.org.uk/main/news_item.php?ref=37

The following Wednesday I was in central London to talk for law firm, “Hogan Lovells LLP” on behalf of Paralympics GB. I spoke about my experiences as an athlete at the launch of their Disability and Wellbeing network. It was great to meet so many enthusiastic people who are doing their bit to support Team GB in the build up to London 2012 and I’m looking forward to going back in the summer to do some follow up talks to prospective employees.

After the talk, I managed to get across to Camden to see the “Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain” performing all manner of unexpected songs from David Bowie’s “Life on Mars” to “Anarchy in the UK” by the Sex Pistols! It was certainly a very entertaining way to round off a long day.

All this has meant that I’ve been busy but the main reason that I haven’t written anything new since mid-March is that Alison and I have finally completed on our house. We’re some way from moving in yet because there needs to be a few adaptations to the place first but we have set about trying to clean it up a bit. We did also enjoy a bottle of champagne there the day we got the keys! I’d love to be in there tomorrow but the amount of paperwork surrounding a house move is staggering, let alone council grant applications and building quotes. Balancing this with training is definitely challenging and my timetable is becoming increasingly crowded but it’s all part of being a full time athlete.

Last week GBWR met with Squad 2012 at Twickenham to outline our latest preparation phase as well as our UK Sport funding targets. The 2011 International season will be fantastic with more quality teams than ever before travelling to Britain in preparation for the Paralympic Games in 2012. I’ll be letting you know more about the International Wheelchair Rugby that you’ll be able to see this year in the UK in my next post.

Just before I go, I wanted to congratulate a few people on their sporting achievements. Firstly, well done to Graham, Becky, Gary and Dave for completing the Brighton Marathon on Sunday. The weather made it a pleasure to watch, but a nightmare to run in! You guys were awesome and Ali and myself had a great day cheering you all on…And finally to all the guys at my old Rugby Club, Charlton Park for earning promotion with a resounding 77-0 victory away at Eastbourne last weekend. I’m sure the report and a few of the less dubious photos are already on the CPRFC website at…

http://www.charltonpark.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1&Itemid=136

I’m off to Ibiza this Wednesday for a short break before diving headlong into GB’s European Championship preparations! Thanks for reading, check back soon…

Readers who submit articles must agree to our terms of use. The content is the sole responsibility of the contributor and is unmoderated. But we will react if anything that breaks the rules comes to our attention. If you wish to complain about this article, contact us here