Para athlete Abbie McNally from Inverness Harriers has been invited to run as a guest in the Muller Indoor Grand Prix Glasgow, incorporating the IAAF World Indoor Tour Final, on Sunday 25th February 2018.
British Athletics were delighted to confirm the inclusion of some IPC events as part of the programme and Katie Jones, Paralympic Podium Potential Manager, was keen to offer a place to Abbie to give her some experience in that arena of competition against some of the world’s top Paralympians.
The sixteen-year-old athlete from Ross-shire who attends Alness Academy was identified by Scottish Disability Sport’s Regional Manager for Highlands and Islands Charlie Forbes, and was referred to a local athletic club to help improve her development where she has shown she has potential to achieve greater things. She had also been prior selected last year to the British Athletics Parallel Success Academy which has weekend camps at Loughborough University and had also been selected for the Athlete Academy of Sporting Excellence (AASE) at Manchester.
Abbie, who normally competes in the 100m and 200m outdoors, will compete in the women’s T37/38 60m which is for athletes with cerebral palsy. She has made tremendous progress over the last two years and has been selected twice now for Scotland in the British School Games winning two gold medals and also won medals in the British Age group Championships at Bedford.
Abbie stated: “This has come out of the blue and I am absolutely thrilled to get this invite from British Athletics and for this opportunity to compete on live BBC TV and also in front of a large home crowd.”
Charlie Forbes said: “This is a great opportunity for Abbie to experience the reality of top athletics in front of a large crowd against top athletes and she should savour the moment.”
The event will be broadcast live on BBC and includes some of the best athletes in the world, including a host of stars from the 2017 IAAF World Championships who will compete at the glittering Emirates Arena, offering the British public an opportunity to see the world’s best track and field athletes on show in an intimate indoor setting.