12 months ago at the England Athletics Age Group and IPC Championships in Bedford, Sam Fernando from Gateside and Fife AC ran a time of 4:28.93 for 1500 metres. On Saturday 27th August 2016 Sam returned to Bedford for the same event and ran 4:19.88, an improvement of around 9 seconds.
Sam is coached by Ron Morrison and competes in the T20 class in disability athletics. Sam is the leading Under 20 athlete in the T20 class and was voted leading male athlete at the Disability Sport Fife Championships earlier in the year. Sam has top three UK rankings across a range of distance events.
1500 metres is the only distance event available to T20 athletes on the Paralympic programme and In Sam Fernado and Owen Miller from Dunfermline, Fife AC has two of the country’s leading T20 athletes. Sam has made significant progress since he joined coach Ron and Owen similarly has had a fine season to date under his new coach Steve Doig.
Richard Brickley MBE
President, Disability Sport Fife