A very warm welcome awaited Scottish Disability Sport at the new sportscotland Inverclyde Centre in Largs for the inaugural Scottish Boccia International Open event. SDS was delighted to host this event in conjunction with North Ayrshire Council and sportscotland. This event was a perfect opportunity to showcase this excellent facility at an event tailor-made for the fully accessible residential venue, which is now able to host up to 120 wheelchair users. The centre was at capacity with players, assistants and coaches from Scotland and neighbouring countries competing, featuring many of the very best players in the UK and from further afield taking part in a teams, pairs and individual sections for the first time in Scotland. This represents another major development for the sport of boccia in Scotland in attracting international-level competition to these shores.

Competition was fierce throughout with Friday witnessing some high quality Teams & Pairs events played to a finish, followed by Individual events on Saturday and Sunday. The Scottish BC2/2 players Reegan Stevenson and Callum Glasgow joined forces with Northern Ireland to finish in bronze position behind the team from Ireland in silver and the Boccia UK team in gold.

The strength in depth in the BC3 Pairs section was formiddable and so it proved as the two teams from Boccia UK battled it out with represenatives from the English Scorpion and Viper Academies – who had both impressively topped their respective groups. The Boccia UK pairs – featuring the mighty Scots players Patrick Wilson and the McCowan brothers – Jamie and Scott – drew on their consdierable top level experience to contest the final with the English pair of Jess Hunter and Rich Amos defeating their Scottish stablemates in a formidable performance.

Scottish interest continued in the BC4 Pairs section where Scotland’s Peter McGuire and Ross Munro battled against Evie Edwards and Louis Saunders across the best of three fixtures. The Scottish team outperformed all expectations to win all three matches.

In the individual sections Reegan Stevenson claimed his second bronze of the weekend qualifying from an extremely close group in second place on points difference. This meant he met Paralympic Gold Medallist David Smith MBE and, despite winning the first end and remaining competitive throughout, lost out on a final place. Reegan’s determination to complete the bronze set won through as he managed the match v Ireland’s Niamh Dunphy superbly to ease through to claim the podium place. Smith went on and claimed gold in victory over his teamate Tia Ruel.

Ireland’s Beijing Paralympian Padraic Moran eased to the BC 2 title and was only really stretched by England’s Reshad Saraj who defeated him in a tight group match, yet failed to qualify on the points difference as three players finished the group stage on equal points. Scotland’s Callum Glasgow struggled in a strong field but this experience will give him some targets to aspire to in squad training. Boccia UK’s Will Hipwell and England’s Tim Hayes completed the medals in the BC2 section.

The largest entry was in the BC3 section and the top seeds in each of the four groups were members of the UK Boccia Squad and were expected to qualify for the semi-finals. However, players from other countries had other ideas and England’s William Arnott and England Scorpion’s Cecilia Turk had other ideas defeating Patrick Wilson and Scott McCowan respectively in the group stages. This left one unseeded semi-final and a seeded semi-final in the latter stages. William Arnott continued his fine form in comfortably seeing off Cecilia to make the final whilst Jess Hunter defeated Jamie McCowan – who has been enjoying a great year – in the other semi-final. The final was a thrilling affair and resulted in a final end shootout which William Arnott won in front of the large crowd who had assembled.

This only left the BC4 section where five players competed in a round robin tournament. Peter McGuire and Ross Munro were hoping to take their impressive Pairs form into the Individual event against the strength of Boccia UK’s Evie Edwards and Louis Saunders alongside Harry Thompson, competing as an Independent. Evie and Louis shrugged off their Pairs disappointment to set the early pace in the section closely followed by Harry. Peter’s only victory was against Ross, whilst the young Scot found the going tough against the talented quartet in the section. It came down to the final fixtures and Evie emerged victorious with a 7-2 win over Louis, whilst Harry kept his nerve in a tie-break to claim the scalp of Peter.

Thanks to a successful bid to the Big Lottery People’s Project a number of new Boccia sessions will be rolled out around the country with a view to identifying the next generation of players in this sport. The national Boccia Engagement Days on Sunday 26 November in Easterhouse, Glasgow and Saturday 24th March (venue TBC) will support this aim so this excellent sport can continue to grow and strengthen its infrastructure in Scotland.

Thanks to all players, federations, officials (especially Steve Furber who stepped into the breach at the eleventh hour to assume the role of Head Referee) and volunteers for their support of this event, it was great to feature high quality competition in an enjoyable environment at a phenomenal facility.

2017 Boccia International Open Results

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) today announced that RaceRunning is to be introduced as a World Para Athletics event.

World Para Athletics and the Cerebral Palsy International Sports and Recreation Association (CPISRA) have been in discussions for some time about increasing the participation of athletes with more profound physical impairments in World Para Athletics track events. The move will occupy the current T31 and T32 classes which have had no representation in recent years.

For the full announcement please click here.

Well done to Para Trap shooter Mike Drever from Leven who responded immediately to a last minute call up from British Shooting Talent Pathway Coach Christian Schofield to compete in the British Shooting Grand Final at the Faux Deglas Shooting Ground in Wrexham Wales. It took no time at all for the proud Orcadian to accept the invitation and head south to compete alongside the leading GB Olympic Trap and Skeet performers plus six of the country’s top Para Trap shooters. Many of these performers are among the best in the world in their respective disciplines.

Practice went really well for Mike, achieving a new Personal Best in a round of 23 from 25 with a high hit percentage of 77%.  Although he started slowly, Mike carried his good form into day one of competition and in the end was pleased with his overall consistency in such a prestigious event. On Day 2 Mike started well with a 19 and signed off with another PB of 23 from 25 in competition, and an overall score of 95 from 125.  Although this was not good enough for a podium finish Mike was delighted with his performance.  Had he achieved this score at the Para Trap World Cup in Italy earlier in the year he would have qualified for the final.  Mike also finished the competition 8 targets ahead of the current ranked British no. 1 in class PT3 Para trap. 

Wrexham was a great confidence booster ahead of next year’s World Cup competitions that are scheduled for France and the United Arab Emirates. Most importantly Mike is now confident that he can compete with the best at the highest level in the sport. He has only been shooting the discipline for 6 months but his scores are improving with every competition. Understandably Mike cannot wait for the 2018 season and the challenges that lie ahead for him if he is to gain a place in the British Shooting Team for the World Championships in Italy.  

Mike supports the fore end of the gun with his impaired left arm. Because he has no hand he does not have the ability to grip the gun and this of course makes gun control more difficult. Mike is coached by Iain Macgregor, one of the world’s leading coaches in his shooting discipline. Mike shoots 2 to 3 times a week depending on his weekend competitions programme and has a midweek practice at Auchterhouse Country Sports. For the past three years Mike has been employed as Project Manager in the Estates Department at the University of St Andrews

In 2015 Mike set himself a goal of representing Scotland in Olympic Skeet. After only 12 months of shooting competitively Mike was selected to represent Scotland at the 2016 Home Countries International Tournament, in Lispopple, Ireland. Later in the same year he was also invited to the CSF (ED) in Wales. It was there he became aware of Para Trap and he shot his first trap competition in March 2017. Mike has now set his sights on becoming successful internationally in Para trap and perhaps one day competing at a Paralympic Games.

Mike is the first Para athlete based in Fife to excel in international shooting. He is indebted to the Association of Fife Rotary Clubs and the Fife and Scottish Disabled Sports Trusts for financial assistance with his competition programme to date.

Richard Brickley MBE – President Disability Sport Fife

Derek Rae from Fife AC has rounded off his most successful season to date with an excellent run on his first visit to Amsterdam for the Mizuno Half Marathon.

Derek represented Team GB at the Paralympic Games in Rio in the T46 class and in the Netherlands clocked 71.59 and 7th position overall, running from within the pack. An amazing end to a brilliant season where Derek has set personal best performances for 3K (9:19.98), 5K (15:46.04), 10K (32:32), 5 miles (26:09) and 10 miles (53.38), half marathon (70.06) and marathon (2:33.34).

Most athletes would be looking forward to a relaxing time after such a tough race but not the highly committed Fife marathon runner who has his short term sights on the 2018 London Marathon and longer term on gaining GB selection for the Paralympic Games in Tokyo.

The run in Amsterdam was yet another experience of competing overseas in a completely new environment. Coach and athlete now turn their attention to a winter of heavy weights, high mileage and cross country races all across the nation. In the words of the very talented Fife AC athlete “exciting times ahead.”

Derek’s wife Susan was in Amsterdam providing her usual exceptional support and even captured a brilliant image of Derek at the start of the Amsterdam race. Brilliant season Derek and best wishes over the winter from all your fans in Fife and beyond.

Richard Brickley MBE – President Disability Sport Fife