Switzerland

Having gained “B” qualifying times racing in January*, I headed into the Switzerland wheelchair racing series with the goals of setting faster times and racing consistently against my competitors.  Would I accomplish these things? Stay tuned to find out…

Spring time in Switzerland is notoriously unpredictable, as far as weather is concerned.  I’ve raced in both 35 degree (C) sunshine and snow in previous years here. It’s always a gamble of what will greet you when you get off the plane.  This year, we arrived 5 days before competition to acclimatize, and we were treated to 5 days of cold, wet weather.  

My first race was the 100m at the IPC Para Athletics Grand Prix in Nottwil.  The rain had held off all morning, but while we warmed up, the suspicious grey clouds came rolling in and threatened to crash the party… which it did.  Right on cue, as we were called out to the track from marshalling, the misty rain greeted us all as we rolled around to the start line. I knew at this point it wasn’t going to be a particularly fast race, and that whoever got off the line fastest was going to be hard to catch in all this wet.  While I wasn’t particularly pleased with my performances with training in the rain earlier in the week, the practice certainly proved useful as I got off the mark in front and was able to hold the lead through to the finish line, taking first place.

As we drove away from Nottwill towards our next stop in Arbon, the clouds started to part to reveal sunshine. It’s always exciting having the opportunity to race on the track in Arbon, it’s a world record holding track and a place i’ve set most of my personal best times. Whilst I was looking forward to pushing some faster times, it was also an opportunity to now race against the current World record holder from America who had now arrived in Switzerland. 

Lining up in the sunshine I’ll admit I was a tad nervous, either side of me were athletes who I had admired for years and very likely the same athletes who will be in the final of the upcoming World Championships. The gun went off and and the record holder jumped out in front, it was now a race between the rest of the pack chasing down the next positions. With our wheels surging back and forth down the track I crossed the line in fourth place. Forth might seem like a step back compared to the week before, but with 2nd through 4th place separated by just tenths of a second, it has given me a real confidence boost as I head towards World Championships and on to Tokyo next year. 

So did I accomplish my goals? I raced slower in the wet race and won, then faster in my second dry race and finished fourth… Overall, yes, I consistently raced well against the other athletes in my races and even won a pen for getting first place in Nottwil… which Q now uses at work…

I’m excited to continue to push myself hard in the months leading up to Worlds and maybe win more pens...

*To understand what qualifying times are, please visit “Para Athletics Explained”