In the 2017 Virgin Money London Marathon, Derek Rae from Kirkcaldy and Fife AC ran a personal best time by over four minutes to record 02:33:24.

Derek was running for Team Great Britain in the World Para Athletics Marathon World Cup and finished third in the T45/T46 class. This was by far Derek’s best marathon performance to date against the world’s leading runners in his class.

The two athletes who finished ahead of him were Alex Pires Da Silva (Brazil) 02:28:20 and Abelhadi El Harti from Morocco 02:29:38. In 2016 they were ranked 2nd and 4th in the world and Derek was ranked 8th. Derek’s 2017 run could move him up at least two places in the world standings.

In each of his London Marathons to date Derek has recorded personal best times. Derek’s long term aim is to gain selection for Team GB for his second Paralympic Games in Tokyo in 2020. The run this year clearly indicates the British number one continues to make progress towards his overall goal. Brilliant performance Derek and congratulations.

Richard Brickley MBE
President, Disability Sport Fife

Good luck to Scottish team swimmers competing in the British Para Swimming International Meet between Thursday 27 and Sunday 30 April. The event is taking place for the fourth year running in Pond’s Forge, Sheffield.

This event is one of the largest open competitions for para swimmers and will attract teams from all over the world. As British Swimming enters a new Paralympic cycle, athletes will be competing for the title of British Champion. Races will take place over the four days with heat sessions taking place in the morning and finals in the evening.

Scottish Swimming will be taking a team of 25 swimmers to compete in the long course competition. Classification will also be taking place for new swimmers Toni Shaw (Grampian), Jack Milne (Tayside) and Cara Smyth (Fife), and classification reviews will be undertaken by Kayleigh Haggo (West), Hope Gordon (Highland) and Christian Buchanan (East).

Live streaming and results can be accessed on the British Swimming website here:
https://www.britishswimming.org/events-and-tickets/british-para-swimming-international-meet-2017/

Rose Bancroft – West
Lewis Beagrie – West
Christian Buchanan – East
Oliver Carter – Fife
Stephen Clegg – East
Reagan Doig – Tayside
Adam Donnachie – West
Rhys Gill – Grampian
Hope Gordon – Highland
Kayleigh Haggo – West
Genevieve Hunter – West
Kyle Hughes – West
Beth Johnston – East
Abby Kane – West
John Law – West
Stephen McCormick – Fife
Amy McFarlane – West
Jack Milne – Tayside
Conner Morrison – Grampian
Andrew Mullen – West
Laura Pilkington – East
Scott Quin – East
Toni Shaw – Grampian
Cara Smyth – Fife
Erin Swan – West

We wish all swimmers a successful event. If you or anyone you know would like to get involved in disability swimming, please contact Scottish Disability Sport on 0131 317 1130 or email admin@scottishdisabilitysport.com.

South Lanarkshire Disability Sport held their annual Disability Sports Awards Ceremony on Thursday 20 April 2017. The event was held at Palace Sports Grounds in Hamilton with a great turnout of supporters of the branch from athletes to sponsors, Local Authority partners, councillors, provosts and many more.

The afternoon was hugely successful with some great speakers including Scottish and GB Table Tennis player Euan McLaughlin and World Champion Boccia player Stephen McGuire. Both speakers inspired the audience with their achievements and journeys in sport which was a fantastic starter to the Awards Ceremony.

It was encouraging to see the success of disability sport in South Lanarkshire and all the achievements of the award winners and runners up. A special mention must go to Millar Stoddart who won the Service to Sport Award. Millar has been involved with South Lanarkshire Disability Sport since the branch formed in 2001 as secretary and latterly as Chairman. Well done to everyone who was nominated or won an award – a full list of the award winners is below. Thank you to South Lanarkshire Disability Sport for hosting another successful awards afternoon

Sports Award Winners 2017

JUNIOR MALE SPORTS PERFORMER OF THE YEAR – Nathan Fleetwod

JUNIOR FEMALE SPORTS PERFORMER OF THE YEAR – Shiona McClafferty

ADULT MALE SPORTS PERFORMER OF THE YEAR – Andrew Harrison

ADULT FEMALE SPORTS PERFORMER OF THE YEAR – Diane Gillan

COACH OF THE YEAR – John Gardiner

CLUB OF THE YEAR – Claremont Colts

JUNIOR TEAM OF THE YEAR – Lanark Grammar Learning Disability Football Team

OUTSTANDING SPORTING ACHIEVEMENT AWARD – Stephen McGuire

SERVICE TO SPORT – Millar Stoddart

Martin Perry celebrated his promotion last week to the British Performance Squad by taking the class 6 singles title at the 2017 British Para Table Tennis Championships in Grantham, beating the European bronze medallist and three time Paralympian David Wetherill 3-2 in a thrilling final.

“To beat someone like Dave who is top five in the world is a fantastic result for me,” said Perry, who also received the Player of the Tournament Award. “It was a really good match and we both played really good table tennis. It means an awful lot to me to be National champion. I’ve been Scottish champion a few times and that means a lot to me but to say that I am British champion as well is a fantastic feeling.”

For a full report on the Championships, see the Table Tennis Scotland website here.

Stephen McGuire, double gold medallist and world individual champion, started a successful campaign for the Road to Tokyo by winning gold in both BC4 Individual and Pairs category at the BISFed European Regional Open Competition. It was a successful competition all round for the Scottish players, with brothers Jamie and Scott McCowan and Patrick Wilson competing in the BC3 competition, where Jamie won gold and Scott won bronze for Scott in the Individual category. The last throw of a ball denied Patrick a bronze and left him in fourth place.

The competition took place in San Cugat, Barcelona, from Tuesday 11 April to Saturday 15 April 2017. Paralympians Patrick, from Edinburgh, Jamie and Scott from Dundonald and Stephen, from Hamilton, competed against players from Ukraine, Slovenia, Spain, Italy, Russia, France and Greece in the first competition of the cycle.

Results were:

• Stephen McGuire, BC4 Individual Gold
• Stephen McGuire, BC4 Pair Gold
• Jamie McCowan, BC3 Individual Gold
• Scott McCowan, BC3 Individual Bronze
• BC3 Pair (Jamie McCowan, Scott McCowan, Patrick Wilson) – 4th place

SDS would like to congratulate all players on a tremendous effort, and Boccia UK Performance Coach Claire Morrison, as well as Dundonian Darren Thomson who was selected to officiate as an International Technical Official in the competition.

If you or anyone else you know would like to get involved in the sport of boccia, please contact Scottish Disability Sport by telephoning 0131 317 1130 or alternatively email admin@scottishdisabilitysport.com.

The Scottish Association of Blind Bowlers (SABB) attended the International Blind Bowlers Association World Championships in Cape Town, South Africa from the 20 – 27^th March.

SABB, led by Team Manager David Thomas, were keen to maintain and indeed improve on previous performances and took a full squad of eight players and eight assistants to the event.

David, who was appointed President of the IBBA in Worthing 2013, would relinquish the title and duties to Dr Sarah Shapiro from Israel at the closing ceremony on the 27^th of March.

The team arrived three days early to acclimatise to the hot conditions and faster green speeds, highly recommended for bowlers based in the northern hemisphere.  The heat was another factor to be considered and became a serious problem for the players, with play having to be suspended on a number of occasions as temperatures reached the high 30’s and low 40’s. Some of the players suffered from dehydration and others severe stomach upset.

However, under these extreme circumstances, there was a silver lining in the form of 2015 IBD World B2 singles and pair champion Irene Edgar.  Irene got off to a great start and won her first three games; she was in contention to win her first IBBA gold, but unfortunately, this was hampered due to illness and she had to concede her game to Australia.  This turned out to be costly and despite winning her last game, Australia won gold from Scotland on shot difference and Irene had to settle for silver.

Her husband Billy Edgar (B2) needed to win his last game for any chance of a medal.  A tough challenge as the game was against the section leader, Hong Kong.  Billy played an outstanding game and won 21 -19, earning himself a bronze and allowing South Africa to win gold and Hong Kong to end up with silver.

The final Scottish medal went to Fiona Scotland (B4) playing in her first World Championship.  Her victory 21 -20 against England’s, Liz Ward, guaranteed a bronze medal.

Because of the health issues, this affected the mixed pairs events and no medals were achieved.

Overall, Scotland ended up 6^th out of a field of 10, which is felt by many as an underachievement.  On a positive note, the performances of the Edgars at this level bodes well, as both players are members of the Scottish Disability Sport para bowls programme and both are in contention for the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Scottish Disability Sport would like to welcome the new office bearers in Grampian Disability Sport and South Lanarkshire Disability Sport branches. Grampian Disability Sport appointed a new Chairperson, Len Ironside, in December 2016 after long serving Chair, Pauline Stirling stood down. Len is doing a great job as chair so far and we are delighted that Pauline is still an active member of the Grampian Disability Sport committee.

This month, South Lanarkshire Disability Sport welcome new Chairperson Forbes Dunlop and Vice Chairperson, David Condie. The previous Chairperson, Millar Stoddard will also remain an active member of the committee after many years in the role.

Huge thanks must go to both Pauline Stirling in Grampian and Millar Stoddart in South Lanarkshire for all their hard work, support, and dedication over many years.

All three new members bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to both branches and Scottish Disability look forward to working with you all.

The BWF Spanish ParaBadminton Championships took place March 9 – 12 in Alcudia, a coastal town in northern Mallorca.

Scottish players went deep into the tournament and took home four bronze medals, two of them for Mary Wilson.

In women’s singles, class SL4, Mary won a bronze medal. And in class SS6, Deirdre Nagle also took bronze.

In women’s doubles, class SL3/4, Mary, playing alongside Russia’s Natalia Iremchuk, collected her second bronze medal while in men’s doubles, class SS6, Bobby Laing and Englishman Isaak Dalgleish, landed bronze too.

Alan Oliver – playing singles, men’s doubles and mixed doubles – won six matches and lost four. Colin Leslie – also playing all events – won five and lost four.

Full results can be found here

The seven Scottish athletes who travelled to Spain were Fiona Christie, Bobby Laing, Colin Leslie, Deirdre Nagle, Alan Oliver, David Purdie, Mary Wilson.

Norway won the World Wheelchair Curling Championships 2017 gold medals and world title for the third time on Saturday 11th March in the Gangneung Curling Centre in Gangneung, Republic of Korea. Russia took silver while Scotland won the bronze medals.

In the bronze medal match Scotland – skipped by Aileen Neilson, with third Gregor Ewan, second Hugh Nibloe, lead Robert McPherson and alternate Angie Malone – fell four shots behind China in the second end before fighting back to secure a 9-5 victory and the bronze medals.

Scotland skip, Aileen Neilson said after the win; “It’s a bit surreal to be honest. Having come off from losing in the 1v2 game to Russia, and then to Norway [in semi-final] we knew we had to come back out here and fight. After giving up the four that was a big ask but it just shows the real dynamics we have in our team. We stuck together and we didn’t let it go until the very last stone was thrown. We’ve lost big ends before and managed to fight back – it’s about not letting that get to you. There are ups and there are downs but it’s how you cope with them. And I think we fought back after the losses. You learn more from the games you lose than the games you win. We have gained so much experience in having come back from the qualifiers to come back and medal. It’s just fantastic. I’m really, really pleased.”

The 10 teams competing at the Wheelchair Curling Championships 2017 in Gangneung, Republic of Korea have all earned Paralympic Qualification Points to be in qualifying positions for the 2018 Paralympic Winter Games.

Twelve teams will compete at the Games. With points gathered across the past three World Wheelchair Curling Championships the Member Associations who have earned enough Paralympic Qualification Points are: Canada, China, Finland, Germany, Norway, Russia, Scotland (Great Britain), Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, USA and hosts Korea.

This year’s World Championships also doubled as a test event for PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games being held between 9th and 18th March 2018, as the wheelchair curling will be returning to the Gangneung Curling Centre during the games.

There will be no wheelchair world championship next year (2018) as the Championships are not held in Winter Paralympic Games years. The World Wheelchair Curling Championships 2019 will take place in Stirling, Scotland between 2nd and 8th March 2019.

Photos: © WCF / Céline Stucki