In 2011 a friend in the gym roped me into taking part in the Cumbrian Run 2011 as part of ‘Team Curly’ running for the Carlisle Panthers Wheelchair Basketball club.  As a thank you for the fundraising the Club invited us down to their training session at the Richard Rose Academy in Morton.  However this was not a spectator invite!  We were each lent a basketball wheelchair and started on the basics of coordinating a chair and a ball....needless to say we will definitely require many more sessions!  It highlighted a number of things to me including how people in wheelchairs are viewed (even testing my own stereotypes however open minded I thought I was!), how events can change an individual’s life beyond recognition, how limited fantastic clubs like these are in our area and of course how difficult wheelchair basketball is!  I was in the school team but this was a whole different level!  Cumbria Wheelchair Sports Club only received charitable status In October 2011.  They initially formed in April 2010 and serve the whole of Cumbria; they have 70 members as far away as the North East and into Scotland and are growing day by day!

 

The club owns 50 of its own sports chairs, 10 courtesy of the local Aiming High fund (specifically for developing the junior side of the club), 11 through a combination of grant from the Spinal Injuries Association and club fundraising. Five chairs were donated by the Lord Tavernier’s Association and an additional one by a private local funder.  Fundraising has allowed them to purchase 2 trailers to transport the chairs  and a further grant from the Aiming High parents steering group has enabled them to order two racing chairs. The club are in the process of starting a Boccia league up in Carlisle to facilitate a sport for individuals with more severe disabilities, at the moment there is nothing in Cumbria for Boccia at a competitive level.  Their next goal is to raise funds (£60,000) to provide Power chair’s for less able individuals to take part in Power chair football, at the moment the nearest place to play this sport is Newcastle and we as Cumbrian’s need to do something to change this.

 

Obviously I have my own challenge and I set out on the 14 March 2013 to join approximately 23 women to conquer Mount Kilimanjaro!  We will be trekking to altitudes of 5895m through diverse ecosystems from cultivated farmlands, lush rainforest, alpine meadow and finally the barren lunar landscape at the top!  The challenge is not for the fainthearted and I am marginally concerned that the altitude may get the better of me regardless of how much training I put in!  I’m told the best way to train for high altitude is to wear a snorkel or mask!!  Not sure I’ll be putting those training photo’s on Facebook!

 

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