Stevie Gerrard collars Ed ,Arthur and Rob to be in a photo with him after the Stoke Match. The lads reluctantly agree!

Yesterday I was thrilled to be invited down to watch the West Coast Crash Wheelchair Rugby team train with the GB Development Squad at the North West Spinal Injuries Centre, Southport.  Wheelchair users of different levels of spinal cord injury and paralysis gathered for a two day training camp. The West Coast Crash formed at the tail end of 2008 hope to be competing in the National league at the start of the next season; Good luck lads. You can find out more about the team at   http://westcoastcrash.blogspot.com/2009/02/wheelchair-rugby-rules.html

With Arthur 19 days old in this photo it can be seen that he still fits neatly in my lap whilst I am in my wheelchair. This is excellent as when he is a little bit grumpy I simply roll around with him lying on my thighs and he falls to sleep thinking he is in his pram or the car!

An extremely competitive field of triathletes took to the open waters of Rother Valley for a 750m swim, followed by a fast flat 20km bike circuit, leading onto a flat 5km run route. The closest finish of the day saw James Martin (South London Harriers Tri) out sprinting Nichols Gregory (Fulham Tri) in the final hundred meters, to win the Tri 9 Class by 5 seconds.

David Cooke (Tri 3), James Smith (Tri 4), Tom Perkins (Tri 5), Adrian Howden (Tri 6), Melanie Barratt (Tri 7), Colin Styles (Tri 7) and James Martin (Tri 9) become British Triathlon Champions in their respective classes.

Alan Rayment (Tri 3), Alesdair Grice (Tri 5), Paul Thomas (Tri 6), Maggie Bowes (Tri 7), Graham Kiff (Tri 7) and Nicholas Gregory (Tri 9) took silver medals.

Ed Fletcher (Tri 3), David Corringham (Tri 5), Mick Townsend (Tri 6), Robert Awty (Tri 7) and Fergus Cooke (Tri 9) took bronze medals.

The championships were the first national event exclusively for disabled triathletes and took place as part of the Rother Valley Triathlon festival held in Rother Valley Country Park, just outside Rotherham in South Yorkshire. The inclusion of the Disabled Championships is a culmination of years of hard work and recent development projects supported by British Triathlon’s Premier Sponsor, Corus.

Julian Wills, British Triathlon’s National Equity Manager, commented: “The event was awesome. The Championships are a culmination of almost four years development work, and are a milestone in disabled triathlon history. The athletes were fantastic, and a credit to the sport of triathlon.”

For more information about disabled triathlon opportunities please contact Julian Wills on julianwills@britishtriathlon.org or 01822 850454

Yesterday saw the the first ever national Disabled Triathlon Championship take place and my own first competition. I shall post photos and video footage hopefully in the next few days but what an event! I came third in my disability category and know I can improve in several areas:-

1) acclimatise to the open water for longer/do more open water training.

To me, swimming in a lake compared to swimming in a pool is like chalk and cheese. I was doing well at the start of the swim but then after 75 or so metres by body just appeared to start closing down, I couldn’t move and dropped to dead last in the race. I was very close to getting in the rescue launch but managed to pull myself together and get moving again. Actually seeing where you are going is also very difficult in a murky lake without your glasses on and my breathing was erratic so more work is needed here!

2) Transitions

It took me forever to a) get out of the lake and b) get out of my wetsuit and I really lost a competitive advantage here. The answer? practice but also a wetsuit with zips on the legs.

3) Cycle

I lost some time here despite putting full effort in so I can only assume that and cycle technology has come on somewhat in the last 10 years! I shall check this out as a priority.

I complete the course in 1 hour 49 minutes and 9 seconds and to break 1 hour 50 mins was I personal target so I am delighted by this. A big ‘thank you’ has to go out to ‘team Fletch’ a motley gang of friends and family who helped me in the transition phases and motivationally generally.

Fish, chips and mushy peas followed by chocolate digestives went down a treat after the day’s exertions!

Right, when’s the next one?!

What to do? Anti-inflammatories and go for it?! I am the fittest I have ever been, going great guns in ALL disciplines and I need/want to compete!

We shall see.

For training I should no doubt concentrate on swimming – lowest impact, not the RSI action.

My swimming is ‘coming on a treat’ now I can swim front crawl with the aid of a wetsuit ( 750 mtrs in 22 minutes). racing chair technique is also coming along, despite picking up a puncture on the weekend.