I recently proudly reported that British Athletics and Scottish Athletics had named 46 athletes on their Paralympic World Class Programme for 2020. World Championship silver medallist Derek Rae from Kirkcaldy and Fife Athletic Club was one of four athletes to be upgraded to the top tier podium level funding. Derek was one of twenty athletes who won medals at last year’s World Championships in Dubai or London, earning him the right to be on the programme.
There are only six months to go until the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games and every week from here on is meticulously planned for the Great Britain T46 marathon athlete. Derek is currently ranked number two in his class. The world record may have been lowered recently by the Australian number one in Texas to 2:19 but this has made him even more determined to arrive in Japan in the best shape of his life.
Derek has recently returned from another camp in Iten in Kenya where training at 8,000 feet produces exceptional returns. Derek will return to Flagstaff in Arizona for a second year and additional warm training is scheduled thereafter. An altitude tent has become a regular feature of home life and the magnificent chamber at Napier University provides Derek with world class heat, humidity and altitude preparation for Japan.
Derek, being the true professional that he is, always finds time when he can to catch up on volunteering duties with Disability Sport Fife at the Michael Woods Sports & Leisure Centre every Wednesday. On his recent visit to Kenya he found time to visit a school for children with hearing impairments and as he often does in Fife he inspired the youngsters with his stories and warm personality. Sport in Fife and beyond has benefitted enormously from the arrival of this great Fife athlete as a global star.
Richard Brickley OBE MBE Chairman Disability Sport Fife (SCIO) Board of Charity Trustees