Ready to be inspired by a great Storey...

As the rain continues to pour though, I do hope that it can abate for the Opening Ceremony of the Paralympic Games, a wonderful spectacle and celebration of human achievement. I have always been a close follower of the Paralympics since the mid 1990s when my sister became very good friends with Sarah Storey, or Sarah Bailey as she was then. In London, Sarah will be competing in her sixth Paralympics, her first being in Barcelona in 1992, and will be aiming to increase her medal tally up from the 18 she has already won including 7 Gold’s. What makes Sarah’s record even more impressive is that up until 2004 she competed as a swimmer, but when an ear infection forced her out of the pool in 2005, she then took up cycling to keep fit. Within a year she had broken the 3000m Individual Pursuit Paracycling world record. Since then she won two Golds in Beijing, won a World Championship Gold in the able bodied team pursuit breaking the world record and almost making the Olympic squad and will be aiming to increase that medal tally in her home Games.

Sarah Storey has always been an inspiration

                For Sarah’s story (forgive the pun), there are many others, and I look forward to hearing about the  remarkable tales of bravery, achievement and dedication of these true sporting heros over the next few weeks. What I am certain about, is that many peoples misconceptions of disabled sport will be challenged, and I hope to see greater opportunity and access to disability sport following the inspiration provided by these great athletes.

                With just two weeks to go of our cricket season at Kimberley, it is getting to that stage where sometimes it can be hard to find the focus. With no chance of winning the league and finding ourselves in the comfort of a mid-table position, there can often appear little to play for as the season begins to peter out to a close. We must make sure that we do not fall into this position and that we keep our standards through to the end of the season. Two wins to finish could leave us as high as third in the table, and that should be what we are aiming for as we come up against two strong opponents in Clifton and Welbeck. It was great to see Dan Birch and Akhil Patel in full flow last weekend as they demolished Worksop and hopefully they can maintain that form through the final two weeks to let us leave the season on a high note.