Paralysed boy from Weybridge to lead athletes at triathlon
In August 2016, when Emerson was aged just 19 months, he had an operation to decompress an arachnoid cyst which was pressing on his spinal nerve.
While the cyst was decompressed, the surgery resulted in a spinal cord injury that left Emerson paralysed from the chest down."As we were coming to terms with his diagnosis and paralysis, we were with him in hospital teaching him how to sit up again," said Anna-Marina."This was 2016 and the Rio Paralympics were being shown on TV."Seeing disabled athletes taking part in multiple sports was incredible to watch from his hospital bed and gave us strength at a time when we needed it most. "They opened our eyes to what might be possible for Emerson."At the same time, Sophia Warner was reporting trackside from Rio - but she was also hatching a plan for a large scale event for people with disabilities.That November, she launched the Superhero Tri.
Warner is a Paralympian with cerebral palsy and was the first disabled person to enter the London Triathlon back in 1998.Speaking ahead of the Superhero Tri, she said: "It's so much fun and I think it sets out to prove that with everything set up in the right way, anything's possible."It's just great to see at grass roots level so many people with disabilities coming and taking part in sport just for fun.Superhero Tri is now on its eighth event and has grown to include more than 5,000 competitors.Emerson plans to complete the adapted cycle and run sections in his wheelchair, and will be joined by his best friend Leo, mum and her partner Rob.Anna-Marina said Emerson has grown in confidence since taking part in the events."He'll take on any sport - wheelchair racing, wheelchair tennis and anything with a ball - and he goes at life with a fearless spirit," she said.There will be 28 Paralympians taking part in this weekend's event overall.
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Times
a day ago
- Times
British horse racing to go on strike over betting tax rise
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The Independent
2 days ago
- The Independent
Lucy Charles-Barclay's career was dogged by injuries until she discovered why. Now she's back for another shot at the Ironman world title
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Yet the road to this point has been a brutal one, after three years spent battling a series of mysterious injuries from rib fractures to muscle tears to a rip in her hip cartilage, after which she was told she might never race again. She embarked on an investigation into her own anatomy, travelling to Red Bull's high performance centre near Salzburg to undergo testing. 'We really couldn't find a reason,' she says. Finally, last year, she received an answer: a diagnosis for Celiac disease, the serious autoimmune condition triggered by gluten. 'It was a lightbulb moment. Before a race I would carb load, so I would just eat pizza, pasta, all these things. I was basically poisoning myself before going into a big event.' Charles-Barclay had often competed through the pain. She won the Ironman world title after tearing her calf muscle at the start of the marathon, which crept open like a zip so that by the time she finished 26 miles later, it was 14cm long. So when she came to a halt on London's Victoria Dock during last year's T100 race – part of triathlon's new F1-style championship at glamorous locations all over the world – it had to be bad. Her achilles had blown and she was wheeled away on a golf buggy, past the fans who had come out to see her compete in the flesh. 'It was devastating,' she says. It took nearly a year after her diagnosis to feel fully healthy, but a change in diet – swapping out gluten for rice, chicken and eggs – transformed her body's resilience. Last weekend, in almost exactly the same spot where she had broken down the year before, Charles-Barclay overtook her rival Kate Waugh to lead the London race. She reached the finish straight alone, with just enough time to hype a giddy crowd inside the ExCel Centre before lifting the finish tape over her head in triumph. Then she collapsed into the arms of her coach and husband Reece, and the tears flowed. 'It doesn't quite feel real,' Charles-Barclay says, watching back the footage of her winning moment. She is talking to The Independent after a hard morning's training at the London Aquatics Centre in Olympic Park, four days after that T100 victory. 'There's so much emotion in that video. It feels a little bit weird, like it was like a real 'moment', a turning point, proving to myself that I'm back to my old ways and feeling strong again.' There was a poignancy, too, after Charles-Barclay's grandfather died in December. 'He watched all my races, most of them online because I don't race in the UK, so London last year was the final race that he actually came to watch me, and obviously I had to pull out. So it was really, really sad. We had all the family there this year apart from him, but it definitely felt like he was there with me.' Triathlon remains a fringe sport outside of its place in the Olympic Games, but T100 is bidding to change that. Its world tour operates like a Formula One season, with 20 contracted triathletes competing for points and prize money at nine destinations around the world. Races are staged in Miami, San Francisco, Ibiza and Dubai, and the champion at the end of the season scoops £150,000. The 100km competition – somewhere between a regular triathlon and an Ironman – was launched last year as a ploy to build a more consistent narrative, with the best athletes regularly going head to head. The event has lured plenty of big names including Olympic champions Flora Duffy and Alistair Brownlee, while Alex Yee is considering joining the championship next year, which would be a major coup. Triathlon is increasingly attracting the executive class, usurping golf as the go-to hobby of the CEO, but it also has a growing grassroots following. 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'It's like I'm going into battle every time that I'm going to line up for a competition, so it's almost like a confidence thing. It's inspired young girls to braid their hair, whether it's sports day at school, or I've had young women who sit exams and they'll braid their hair just to feel a bit more confident doing it. It's become a real movement that I didn't expect and every time someone shares it online, it's just so amazing to see that.' The Olympics remains triathlon's biggest stage, and there is talk of the 100km format making its debut at the 2032 Olympics in Brisbane. That may come too late for Charles-Barclay, who has never competed at the Games, and she admits it is frustrating not to get the same recognition as those who race over the shorter Olympic distance. 'We deserve it, we work so hard,' she says. 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I just really want to go there and get the win again.'
BBC News
2 days ago
- BBC News
Campher delighted by debut century for Essex
Ireland all-rounder Curtis Campher thanked Essex for giving him the chance of some one-day match practice after smashing an unbeaten 123 off 68 balls in his first innings for the recruited the 26-year-old on a short-term deal after losing their opening three group games in the One-Day innings, and a partnership of 175 with Simon Harmer, enabled them to score 417-6 against Surrey at Chelmsford and they went on to win by 244 runs."It was really nice to get the ball rolling with that. You're always a bit nervous when you come into a new side and you want to make an impact, but thankfully I was able to do that," Campher said. "You take the rough with the smooth in cricket. You have to ride the highs and the lows too. I had an injury for about eight weeks and it's great to be out on the park and enjoying it again."Campher - who hit six sixes and 12 fours - is likely to feature for Ireland in next month's home T20 series against England, but helping them qualify for the 50-over World Cup in 2027 is also on his mind."When you sign short-term deals you never know how they are going to go, but it was very fortunate that Essex were happy for me to come for the three games and that Cricket Ireland allowed me to do it as well," he said. "There is domestic stuff as well back home at the moment. I'll be travelling back and forth in the next couple of weeks, but I'm just very happy to be playing cricket again."I got a text from my agent on Tuesday saying it was on the cards. I wanted to play some one-day cricket because of the ODI World Cup in 2027 with the qualifiers coming up. I wanted to get as much long-form white-ball cricket in as possible from now until then."Joining Essex was certainly a whirlwind experience for Campher, who has made 111 international appearances for Ireland in all formats. "I played a game for Munster Reds on Wednesday, drove back to Dublin from Cork and got to bed at 11[pm], and got on to a plane at 8am yesterday [Thursday] morning to go get the medical done and the deal signed."It was handled really well. I play [for Essex] on Sunday but then miss Wednesday because I've got a game back in Dublin, and then I'll be back Thursday to train with the lads for next Sunday's game." Essex's other star performer was 19-year-old pace bowler Charlie Bennett, who took 5-36 as a largely inexperienced Surrey team were bowled out for 171."It feel amazing. A lot of hard work has gone into it," he told BBC Essex was playing only his fifth senior game for the county, but his victims included former England opener Rory Burns."Playing with such good players (such as Jamie Porter, Simon Harmer and Tom Westley) enables your skills to go up with theirs - and the Chelmsford crowd is the best on the circuit, I reckon. They've always got your back and are always loud. I couldn't ask for more."He added: "We've got some of the best players in the country, so I'm still confident [we can qualify from the group].
