British Triathlon are holding the last of our Tri4Tokyo talent ID events on the 28^th and 29^th April, having already held two successful events over the last year which have brought a number of new athletes onto our talent and performance programmers.

From last year’s events we now have new world medallists and also a great new British Talent squad with a far younger average age than through the Rio cycle.  This has put the sport in a great place not only now but looking ahead to Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024.

This is the last talent ID event we will hold until the end of 2019 when we specifically start looking for athletes for the Paris Games. The event has been launched specifically to coincide with the paratriathlon at the Commonwealth Games, which takes place this Saturday.

You can read the latest news article about the programme here.

Or you can go directly to the Tri4Tokyo page here.

 

Day two of the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games saw Team Scotland’s youngest member compete in the pool and the Para Bowlers looking for further success on the Boradbeach greens.

Swimming

14 year old Toni Shaw was making her Commonwealth Games debut at Gold Coast 2018 and was facing a tough first day of competition in the pool with heats and finals in the S9 100m Backstroke. The Aberdeen student posted a time of 1:16.19 in her heat to qualify with the third fastest time.

In the final, Toni was in a three way race for the bronze medal with England’s Alice Tai and Australia’s Ellie Cole taking gold and silver respectively. Toni posted an excellent time of 1:16.79 but on this occasion it wasn’t enough and she finished the race in 5^th place. At 14 years old, these Games will be a huge learning experience for Toni and it is already evident that she has an exciting international swimming career ahead of her.

Lawn Bowls

Having enjoyed mixed fortunes on day one of the Games, Scotland’s Para Bowlers were back in action with both the B6/B7/B8 Open Triple and B2/B3 Mixed Pair facing Welsh opposition.

The B6/B7/B8 Open Triple were under pressure having lost their opening fixture to the host nation by 18-6. The Scots got off to a flying start and after eight ends they led Wales by 18-0. The Scottish Triple of Michael Simpson, Garry Brown and Mikel Nicoll were in fine form and stormed to a 27-4 victory to get their Gold Coast campaign back on track.

The Scottish B2/B3 Mixed Pair had a difficult day following their solid 16-6 victory over England on day one. Their Welsh opponents were on fine form and after a fairly even start to the match they pulled ahead to defeat the Scots by 13-7.

The Gold Coast action continues tomorrow with an extremely busy schedule. Toni Shaw will be joined in the pool by Beth Johnston for the SM10 200m Individual Medley while Neil Fachie MBE and Matthew Rotherham are back in the velodrome for the Sprint event with Aileen McGlynn OBE and Louise Haston going in the 1,000K Time Trial.  Scotland’s Para Lawn Bowlers are back on the Broadbeach greens with the B6/B7/B8 Open Triple taking on New Zealand and the B2/B3 Mixed Pair facing South Africa. Finally, Karen Darke MBE will be in action for the Women’s PTWC Para Triathlon event at Southport Broadwater.

For a comprehensive overview of the Gold Coast Games go to;

https://scottishdisabilitysport.com/2018-gold-coast-commonwealth-games/

The Gold Coast Commonwealth Games are now underway after a spectacular and uplifting opening ceremony in the Carrara Stadium.  The biggest event in Gold Coast history has commenced heralding 11 amazing days of world-class sporting competition.

The long wait has come to an end for the 18 Para Athletes within Team Scotland and there was much to celebrate on day one of the Gold Coast Games.

Cycling

Aberdeen’s Neil Fachie MBE travelled to the Gold Coast as the reigning Commonwealth Games champion in the B 1,000m Time Trial, having taken the gold medal at Glasgow 2014. On this occasion he took to the track with a new pilot is the shape of Englishman Matthew Rotherham, fresh from their World Record and gold medal in the Time Trial event at the Para-cycling Track World Championships in Brazil.

The pair were last to ride in the final and had been set a time of 1:00.900 to beat by Welsh riders James Ball and Pete Mitchell. After a shaky start the Scots turned on the power and took the gold medal with a Commonwealth Games record time of 1:00.065. Their time was almost two seconds faster than the previous Games record set by Fachie and Craig MacLean to win gold at Glasgow 2014.

After his race Neil said:

“Winning at a home Games was really immense and I’m just delighted to have had the opportunity to come and defend it here and to actually do it. We had to bring our A game today but we got it done and I’m so, so happy with that. We got to see the Triathlon earlier, where we picked up our first medal. We were cheering that on back in the village, so that was great motivation.”

Aileen McGlynn OBE was also in action on day one of the Games and was in confident mood for her B Tandem Sprint event. Aileen and her pilot Louise Haston had taken the silver medal in this event at the Glasgow Games in 2014 and hoped to be back in the medals at the Gold Coast Games.

However, it wasn’t to be for Aileen and Louise on this occasion as their new personal best time of  11.157 left them behind their English and Australian counterparts and missing out on the final.

Lawn Bowls

Scotland’s Para Lawn Bowlers both faced difficult matches on the opening day of competition at the Games. Irene Edgar, Robert Barr, Sarah Jane Ewing and David Thomas were up against England in the B2/B3 Mixed Pair event while Michael Simpson, Garry Brown and Mike Nicoll were drawn against Australia in the B6/B7/B8 Triples encounter.

It was a great start to the Games for the Scottish B2/B3 Mixed Pair who initially fell behind to their English opponents. However, the Scots rallied to run out comfortable winners by 16-6 in this opening round robin match.

The Scottish B6/B7/B8 Triple faced a difficult opening fixture against the host nation. The Scots lost four in the opening end and despite rallying in the middle section of the match, the Australians proved too strong winning by 18-6.

The Gold Coast action continues tomorrow with 14 year old Toni Shaw in the pool for the S9 100m Backstroke. Scotland’s Para Lawn Bowlers are back in action with the B6/B7/B8 Open Triple and B2/B3 Mixed Pair both facing Welsh opponents.

For a comprehensive overview of the Gold Coast Games go to;

https://scottishdisabilitysport.com/2018-gold-coast-commonwealth-games/

 

Last month Michael Drever from Leven flew out to Al Ain in the United Arab Emirates for the first Para trap World Cup of 2018. It was the first the first occasion when the leading Para pistol, rifle and shotgun athletes had competed on the same programme in the one event. The next significant event for Michael will be the GBR selection shoot in Wales in May. Later in the year he hopes to compete in the World Cup event in France in September and the World Championships in Lonato in Italy in October.

Since his introduction to international Para trap shooting last year in Italy, Michael has made significant progress in all aspects of his shooting. A strong winter training programme ensured he has retained the sharpness necessary for a positive start to the new season. Scottish Target Shooting (STS) introduced Michael to STS high performance coach Marco Micheli and the results have been instant, following a successful spell of warm weather training in Malaga in January. A further session at the STS national shooting centre with one to one coaching sessions also made a marked difference to the athlete from Orkney who has now settled in Fife with his wife and young family.

The UAE World Cup event was staged, not surprisingly, in a week of warm weather. The lineup of international athletes was world class and the shoot was held in a world class venue. During practice Michael followed the instructions of STS coach Marco Micheli and prepared accordingly. With appropriate adjustments made, Michael decided that he would approach the targets early on.

The first day of competition resulted in a solid and consistent performance with a 20, 18, 20, resulting in 2nd place and two targets off the leader. This gave Michael confidence going into the second day but made sleeping a real challenge. Being well placed at this stage of a major competition was new territory for the proud Orcadian.

The second day did not start too well. A score of 15 was a setback but thankfully it didn’t really affect Michael’s position because he finished with another 20. He was now in joint second place. Following a short winning shoot off with the Australian competitor he was awarded bib no. 2. This was a good place to be because if scores were tied with any competitors wearing bibs no. 3 – 6 during the eliminations, he would progress to the next elimination round.

Michael felt good going into the final but this was new ground for him entirely and he knew it would throw up something new. He started quite well but tailed off towards the end of the 25 targets. The scores were close between all competitors other than the leader, therefore he knew he couldn’t afford to slip up. Michael kept pace for the first targets but on the 4th place elimination round lost concentration and lost too many targets and found himself out of reach. Michael was eliminated at this point but he is confident that he will use the experience of Al Ain as a driving force in the future. So near yet so far and Michael had experienced for the first time the highs and lows of high performance Para sport.

4th place was not the plan but finishing 2nd in qualification was an excellent result. Michael has proven to himself and his team of supporters that he has the ability to go all the way in international Para trap shooting. Next time when he is in a final he will be better prepared and believes he will be a better competitor. All of us in Disability Sport Fife know that he is a hard working focused top athlete, dedicated to his sport. Michael’s time will come and for the moment congratulations from all of us in Fife and no doubt as far north as Orkney.

Richard Brickley MBE – President Disability Sport Fife