Sport: Boccia
Home Town: Dundonald, Ayrshire
Date Of Birth: 30/01/64

Gary is a ramp assistant for his son Scott.  He is an integral part of the BC3 team as when on court he has responsibility to position the ramp and balls as directed by Scott in order for a successful shot to be executed.  Gary has no sight of the court as he sits with his back to the court throughout play.

London 2012 was the first occasion that ramp assistants in the Paralympics wereeligible for a medal.

Gary has been very heavily involved in the sport since his two sons started to play and perform. He has been a ramp assistant with Scott at European and World level competitions over the years and still manages to hold down a full time job.

Sport: Wheelchair rugby
Home Town: Glasgow
Date Of Birth: 13/10/82

Mike started competing in wheelchair rugby in 2002, when he began playing for a local club.

A lifelong rugby fan, Mike took to wheelchair rugby because it is a fast and aggressive full-contact sport. He made his debut for the British team at the 2006 Demolition Derby in Alabama, USA.

Mike greatly admires his ex-team-mates Steve Palmer and Jason Roberts, stating that he has learned a great deal from both players.

Mike is classified as a 1.5 player and now plays with the North East Bulls.

Sport: Judo
Home Town: Edinburgh
Date Of Birth: 22/08/85

Sam burst onto the international scene in 2007, competing at the European Championships in Belgrade, Serbia where he finished 5th.  Sam then went on to win a bronze for ParalympicsGB in Beijing 2008.

Sam is one of two sets of brothers currently competing in visually impaired judo, with his brother Joe also training with the squad and competing in his first Paralympic Games in London.  In 2010, Sam competed at the IBSA World Championships in Antalya, Turkey where he won a silver medal.

In 2011 Sam also won his first VI European title of his career at the IBSA VI European Championships in Crawley, UK, in the under-90kg category.

Sport: Sitting Volleyball
Home Town: Gillingham
Lives: Ashford, Kent
Date of Birth: 19/02/72

In 2009, Claire was spotted at a BPA Talent ID Day and quickly took to sitting volleyball, enjoying the fast, physical and dynamic aspects of the team sport.  She later made her debut for the women’s sitting volleyball team at the 2010 Kent International in a match against China and has now earned over 40 caps for Great Britain.  The team finished 6th in the 2012 WOVD Inter Continental Cup, Cairo, Egypt and 7th in the 2011 ECVD European Championships, Holland.

Outside of her sporting achievements, Claire graduated from Cambridge University in 2006 with a masters degree in criminology.  She now works in financial services as a Head of Corporate Responsibility. She can communicate in British Sign Language and German.  She also enjoys canoeing and spending time in the outdoors.

Claire has a spinal cord injury, with paralysis in her right leg below the knee. She is classified as a D athlete.  Her dominant position on the court is setter.

Sport
7 a side Football

Hometown
Tranent, East Lothian

Date Of Birth
11/08/86

Blair has been playing Football for over 18 years.

He was part of the Scottish team that finished 6th at the 2011 CPISRA World Championships in the Netherlands.  His most memorable moment on the pitch was scoring his first goal for Scotland against Canada.

Blair has a HND in Sports Coaching and Development from Telford College and currently works as a leisure assistant for East Lothian Council.

Sport
Swimming

Hometown
Edinburgh

Date Of Birth
30/04/90

Training Base
Manchester

Coach
Mick Massey

Sean burst on to the scene in time for the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing where  – as an 18-year old rookie – he won S8 100m Backstroke bronze.  The following season he won his first British Championships title over MC 100m Backstroke then lifted three bronze medals (S8 50m Freestyle, 400m Freestyle, 100m Backstroke) at his first European Championships in Reykjavik. In 2010, Sean won British Championships gold in the MC 100m Freestyle before representing Scotland at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, setting the S8 100m Freestyle British record of 1:00.77 to win silver.

Sean added to his medal collection with 34pt 4x100m Freestyle Relay bronze at the 2011 Europeans in Berlin before being selected for his second Paralympic team, having won MC 100m Freestyle gold at the 2012 British Gas Swimming Championships in London.

Sean insists he would be involved in another sport if he wasn’t a Paralympic swimmer – probably motor racing.

Sport
Archery

Hometown
Bo’ness, West Lothian

Date of Birth
17/10/61

Coach
Hazel Elliot / Tim Hazell

Murray has been shooting for over 20 years and trains with the Balbardie Archers.  He joined the GB Archery team in 2007 and represented Great Britain in high profile major events including the European and World Championships in 2009 and 2010. His first international selection was at Stoke Mandeville in 2007.  Murray’s influences in sport have been Scotland’s great Paralympians Jim Buchanan and Sandy Gregory plus Tanni Grey-Thompson from the sport of athletics.

Murray says he loves the buzz and excitement of competing and he describes selection to compete at the London 2012 Paralympic Games as the pinnacle of his sporting career.

Murray has been a member of the British Paralympic Team since 2007 and has represented Great Britain in high profile major events all over the world in his short international career to date.  These have included the European and World Championships in 2009 and 2010.  In 2011 he has won individual and team gold medals at the Stoke Mandeville International Invitation event and individual silver and team gold in the Czech Republic World Ranking event.  Apart from being totally committed to archery Murray is interested in art, music and IT.  Scotland has a history of producing international archers and Murray is one of the most recent in a long line of great sporting ambassadors.

One of Murray’s career highlights is his victory in the men’s Individual Recurve (Standing) at the 2011 Stoke Mandeville International Invitational when he beat the reigning World Champion to win gold.

 

For the second successive year the Association of Fife Rotary Clubs has enabled Disability Sport Fife (DSF) to provide bursaries for established and emerging performance athletes and fund sport specific development projects that will increase levels of sports participation.

Present and Past Chairmen of the Association of Fife Rotary Clubs Jim Slater (Dunfermline Carnegie Rotary) and Derek Thomson (Burntisland and Kinghorn Rotary) met Richard Brickley, President of DSF and the recipient athletes for a cheque handover in Glenrothes. This year Rotary Clubs across Fife awarded a total of £1,170 to DSF to be allocated as individual and group bursaries.

Great Britain middle distance athlete Owen Miller from Dunfermline and Fife AC was awarded a bursary to help meet the costs of his involvement in the INAS European Championships in Turkey. Owen won a gold and silver medal for 800  and 1500 metres. Owen is coached by Steve Doig.

Stephan Hoggan from Auchtermuchty was awarded a bursary to help with the costs of Paratriathlon winter training in Majorca. After a year in the sport Stefan is ranked three in GB and included in the GB performance squad. Stefan is coached by Fiona Lothian of Triathlon Scotland.

Cara Smyth from Dalgety Bay and the Incas club is one of Scotland’s most promising young physically disabled swimmers. Cara was awarded a bursary to help with her training and competition expenses going forward.

Steven Anderson, Robert Anderson and Briony Clark from Glenrothes are three of DSF’s most enthusiastic young volunteers. All three are talented all round athlete members of DSF. The final Rotary award was allocated to the development of bowls and encouraging novice bowlers to join local clubs and commit to a sport where DSF has an excellent track record in all competitions. Briony has already made a significant impact in the sport at national level after receiving coaching at the Dovecot Club.

Richard Brickley MBE
President, Disability Sport Fife

Photo: front L to R – Briony Clark, Cara Smyth, Owen Miller, Stefan Hoggan , Richard Brickley; back L to R – Jim Slater, Robert Anderson, Derek Thomson, Steven Anderson

Callum Sloan from Dunfermline and Suzanne McGrath from Glenrothes are very committed to the sport of wheelchair racing. Callum has been racing for a number of years and has contested two London mini marathons. Suzanne has been involved in the sport for one year and completed the 2015 Great Scottish Run and 2016 Edinburgh Marathon. Both athletes are coached by DSF athletics coach Pamela Robson and compete for the Disability Sport Fife athletics team.

Suzanne’s wheelchair was provided by Disability Sport Fife and Callum’s new wheelchair was purchased from grants provided by the Russell Hogg Trust and Scottish Disability Sport. Each athlete is very committed to a challenging training programme with invaluable support from their families. Suzanne’s father Eddie has become a very competent distance athlete and Callum’s mum has become a very enthusiastic volunteer multi sport coach with Disability Sport Fife.

In addition to being talented and successful athlete members of DSF, Suzanne and Callum have become outstanding fund raisers. Together they raised almost £2000 when they attracted sponsors for their marathon efforts in London and Edinburgh earlier in the year. Family, friends and work colleagues rallied round as sponsors in significant numbers to support their efforts. Well done and thank you to Callum and Suzanne for raising such an impressive sum of money for the development of disability sport in Fife.

Richard Brickley MBE
President, Disability Sport Fife

Sport
Cycling H2

Hometown
Halifax

Lives
Inverness

Date Of Birth
25/06/71

Karen has an adventurous spirit and, amongst other achievements, she has cycled the length of Japan on her Handbike, climbed El Capitan and been crowned the 2009 World Para-Triathlon Champion.

In 2009, Karen won a bronze medal in the Para-Cycling World Cup and she went on to join the British Para-Cycling team in 2010.  Her achievements to date include winning two silver medals at the 2011 Para-Cycling World Cup in Sydney, Australia, in both the women’s H2 Road Race and Time Trial events.

In addition to her sporting achievements, Karen was awarded a doctorate in Geology from the University of Aberdeen in 1996.  She also has a MA in Development
Training and diplomas in Performance Coaching and Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Karen is an athlete with a spinal cord injury, which she acquired in a rock climbing accident.