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BBC News
10 minutes ago
- BBC News
Harrogate father with MS takes on York 10k for charity
A quadriplegic man is taking on the York 10k on Sunday in a specially designed running Howell, from Harrogate, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) in 2021, three years after he first began to notice will be taking part in the race alongside his friends Sam Fugill and Jane Evans, who will push the chair, his son Jonah and a support group of more than 30 said he was "super excited" ahead of the race, having never done anything like it before. "It's going to be quite an emotional event for me because it's liberating, you spend a lot of time when you're disabled quite isolated," he said."You're on your own, you're in your own space, you get those days which are hard, monotonous and become quite dark on occasion, but I just keep trying to fight, keep positive and doing these kind of things helps keep you motivated. So I'm super excited."Mr Howell's wheelchair has been supplied by runner and fundraiser Stephan Couture, from Warwickshire, who first developed the chair for his daughter Chloe, who has cerebral the father and daughter have raised thousands of pounds for charity, taking part in marathons and runs from Barbados to Couture, who is currently working on his fourth running wheelchair, first heard about Mr Howell's need after running the Berlin Marathon for said: "Will was trying to get some help to do an event. So MS-UK rang me and said, could you help? I said, I can't promise anything, but I'll go and meet Will."So I went up to meet Will and his wife, Helen. I had a wonderful chat, had lunch with them, showed them the chair. And we came up with a plan and we think it'll work."Mr Couture is also running the York 10k alongside Mr Howell and his team. The chairs cost thousands of pounds and are created using frames from Canada, wheels from the US, seats and harnesses from the Midlands and brakes from Howell said Sam and Jane had never run with a wheelchair before, but luckily the York 10k course is flat and paved."They are absolute amateurs," he said. "Stephan came up and my wife got in the chair because I need hoisting, so he pushed my wife about 10m, nearly tipped her out running. So it's going to be quite funny."Sam and Jane are both fell runners. So they're fit people. But when it comes to the chair, there's a bit of an unknown."Mr Couture said the chair was designed to cope with extremes, and has even been up Ben Nevis and across a Norwegian frozen lake at -16 degrees."Chloe and I have done some crazy things," he said. "It's made a huge difference to Will to help him with the York 10k. He's really excited about it." Listen to highlights from North Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
Daily Mail
40 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
CALUM McCLURKIN: Field Of Gold reversal proves there are no guarantees in this volatile game as 'Glorious' Goodwood turns into an almighty grind
We've all been there as punters. 'This can't be beaten. 'A nailed-on certainty. 'The banker of all bankers.' These are all buzz words and phrases that are commonplace in the world of racing punting. It's a vote of maximum confidence but nothing can be guaranteed. We saw a fair few seismic shocks at the Cheltenham Festival this year. Galopin Des Champs beaten in the Gold Cup and Majborough suffered the same fate in the Arkle Novices' Chase. And not many had Golden Ace on their Champion Hurdle radar this year. It happens. Much more often than most of us punters think. And small value plays on outsiders are far less expensive losers than going all-in and ultimately having misplaced confidence on the jolly. Those are the kinds of decisions punters must make. Either that or avoid it all together. Sometimes we just don't learn our lessons. Ground, tactics, bad luck and mistakes can all be contributing factors in high-level athletes losing a race or a match. Sometimes they can just flat out underperform on the big day. That's what, mainly, happened to Field Of Gold in the Sussex Stakes at 'Glorious' Goodwood this week. Sent off a warm 1-3 favourite, Field Of Gold could only manage fourth and lost to 150-1 shot Qirat. You'd have been forgiven in thinking the winning horse's name was Pacemaker Qirat. He was there to set the fractions but was given too much rope on the front end and his finishing speed of 107 per cent in the last two furlongs proved that. Only rated 102 pre-race, there was a widespread assumption that Qirat would just come back to the field that contained Rosallion, Henri Matisse and Field Of Gold. The trio were all rated at least 17lb superior than Qirat but market principals were all caught out watching each other. Rosallion got to within a neck but Qirat managed to hold on. It was steal of the century stuff from Juddmonte's second string who was there to set the fractions, a pace that probably wasn't strong enough for Field Of Gold in the end. But trainers of Field Of Gold John and Thady Gosden revealed that the favourite was lame behind and he certainly didn't travel or pick up with any urgency like he did in his previous four races this season. The trainer was also quick to note that he became unbalanced around the bend. There will be other days for Field Of Gold and perhaps the next port of call will be a step up to 10 furlongs for the Juddmonte International Stakes at York. In truth, you could be forgiven for dubbing 'Glorious' Goodwood as 'Inglorious' Goodwood at times. Thursday's feature being run over a flag start was nothing short of embarrassing. Challenging conditions or not with lightning in the area, the Nassau Stakes really ought to have been delayed until the lightning was cleared to use the stalls or simply postponed until the Friday. Perhaps the ITV scheduling factor forced the hand of Goodwood but a flag start for a Group One isn't just unsatisfactory as most have labelled it, it is unacceptable mickey mouse stuff. And if it's going to happen at least try to start the field in some semblance of a line. What added insult to injury was Whirl was given a good six lengths at the start by being the only horse galloping into the start as main market rivals in the five-runner race Bedtime Story and See The Fire blew it by comparison. It was all over inside 10 seconds as jockey Ryan Moore admitted after the race. Whirl was going to dictate – and probably win – anyway but this was essentially a gift-wrapped Group One in a monsoon with her market rivals being minded out the back for future targets in York and France, respectively. It's weather that Goodwood isn't alien to after the last three races in 2023's final day were called off and Here Comes When floored Ribchester in the Sussex Stakes in similar biblically wet conditions in 2017. The ground was then changed to heavy on a whim after the Nassau Stakes when times said it was soft, an error the clerk of the course admitted to. Then there was a seven-yard strip of fresh ground introduced on Friday that if you were further than three horses off the rail then you couldn't win. Every horse that won that day was well positioned on the inside in the closing stages, the winner of the King George feature was berthed in stall one. And let's not forget the good few horses, Noble Champion springs to mind in the Lennox Stakes, that lost their action on the watered good ground in the first couple of days of the festival when the main story was a deeply upsetting one in the loss of wonderful veteran stayer Trueshan, who trainer Alan King paid an emotional, moving tribute to. Look, fatal fractures can happen anywhere and nobody was to blame but it was an upsetting sight and left a dark cloud hanging over the rest of the meeting that, generally speaking, was wholly inadequate in tricky conditions. Seeing decent times despite horses regularly kicking the top off the ground is just visually odd. It happened at Newmarket's July meeting as well. The going was given as good to firm but all the winning times were outside standard. Punters have little chance and no wonder liquidity is markedly down. Who can genuinely bet with confidence on this? We have all the data in the world in relations to times, sectionals, finishing speeds and stride patterns yet ground descriptions seem stuck in the dark ages. Why? It needs to improve. Conditions were tough at Goodwood and the bosses did well to largely keep the show on the road. But, overall, this week will mostly be remembered for that biblical storm rather than any racing and that's not what you want for a major summer racing festival that lasts five days. The races after the features were also fairly substandard. Goodwood was more of a grind than glorious this year, sadly. LORD ALLEN STEPS UP… NOW RACING MUST FIGHT ITS CORNER IN THE CORRIDORS OF POWER D-Day arrived and past by with minimal fuss in the end. Lord Charles Allen decided to take up his post as the chairman of the British Horseracing Authority this week. Hopefully, this can provide British racing with the leadership it desperately craves as the fight to 'Axe The Racing Tax' seeps deeper into the British political consciousness. Reform Leader Nigel Farage voiced his support in axing the tax that would see betting on racing align with gaming and casino products from 15 per cent to 21. Reform Leader Nigel Farage at Goodwood this week and backed the 'Axe The Racing Tax' bid Tory leader Kemi Badenoch is also on board but, the last time I checked, it's Labour who are in power and it's people within government that racing must persuade. The BHA have already said a tax would cost the sport up to £66million a year. More independent number crunching has spelt out further dangers to the sport this week if the Treasury press ahead with their plans. This included the revelation that 2,752 jobs are at risk following proposed tax hikes, according to new independent research. It could see industry suffer at least £330m revenue loss in first five years – risking the future of this historic sport. These are devastating numbers and represent a clear and present danger to the future of racing. With Lord Allen, a Labour peer, now in situ, the sport faces a critical few months of lobbying in attempt to stave of this threat. Let's hope it can succeed. The consequences are unfathomable. PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK… With the form of equine performances a shade questionable for most races, OISIN MURPHY served up a reminder of his tremendous talent in the saddle with six winners at Goodwood across the week and he wasn't even riding on the West Sussex Downs yesterday! A strike-rate of 1-35 after pleading guilty to drink driving exactly a month ago, a lot were wondering if he needed a break for his own sake after continuing to ride before and after a horrible incident that wasn't handled very well. Some will simply be unable to forgive Murphy after the most serious misdemeanour on his lengthy charge sheet but his talent is never in question. Put simply, he gave a tactical masterclass on the Friday of Goodwood when riding a treble and being one of few jockeys alert enough to utilise the fresh strip of ground and control races from the best position. On idiosyncratic tracks such as Goodwood, good jockeyship is imperative to success and Murphy was the best of the bunch all week.
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Table tennis player to represent England for first time at age 70
A table tennis player will fulfil has lifelong ambition to represent his country - more than 50 years after he first picked up a just turned 70 years old, John Poysden has broken into England's top 10 ranked over-70s began his sporting journey at a club in Rochford and was Southend-on-Sea's number-one ranked men's Poysden said he was "absolutely thrilled" to receive the call-up to the Home Nations Tournament in September. His sporting passion took a back seat as he became a city trader, and had a family, but he retired at 54."I then quite quickly discovered that quite a few things had changed in my 25-year absence, and there was an awful lot to learn," he said."I've never really done things half-heartedly, so I guess I just worked on adapting and improving once again."I thought perhaps I'm in with a chance of selection but to be honest it was more in hope than expectation, so when I received the call-up I was absolutely delighted and felt honoured to be asked." The Home Nations Tournament sees teams compete from England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Guernsey and are the reigning champions of Mr Poysden's age bracket, and he will have the chance to retain that title between 5 and 7 September at Nottingham Trent University."I've never been the most naturally talented player. I've got great friends who don't pick up a bat for several months and they just pick up a bat and they've just got hand-eye coordination immediately," he explained."I have to work at my game. I have to practice." Follow Essex news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
