By any organisation’s standards this has been another fantastic week for us. It began at Stoke on Trent where after a week’s festival of rugby, the National Championships took place at Fenton Manor. It was probably the best Nationals I have seen – well organised, more athletes, more teams, more officials and volunteers and some really competitive games. Congratulations to Pirates who won the Shield and to Storm who won the final of the Cup against Crash. It was especially good to see new teams in action and I met some of the volunteers who are behind the new Canterbury team who we hope to see in the league and Nationals next season. A big thank you to Roma Sports who sponsored the event and who were present throughout to provide help and advice on chairs and equipment. Thank you also to Fenton Manor and to all who helped in so many ways especially Jo Arnold, Lee and Daniel.
It was also great to pick up the news this week that Solent Sharks won the Sport Solent Awards for the best team. Congratulations to Solent who really are a real success story as a new club and who are providing opportunities for players and volunteers in a part of the country where previously there was no club.
The other highlight this week has been the announcement by Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, that the Copperbox in the Olympic Park will host the first ever World Wheelchair Rugby Challenge in October 2015. The announcement came as part of a media launch on London’s south bank where Boris was quick to get in a chair and take on GB Captain Mike Kerr, Kylie Grimes, Bulbul Hussain and Chris Ryan. He did have our Chairman Kevin Aitchison, and Ambassador Mike Brown to help him and also IWRF President John Bishop who flew over from the USA to be part of the event – thank you John. Despite the grey skies, it was a successful launch with lots of media present and plenty of follow up by people who are interested in tickets and supporting the event. Work is well underway now to ensure this event is every bit as spectacular as the London 2012 experience. A special WWRC15 website page will be up soon and with this will come details of how you can register for tickets which we know will be keenly sought after.
With this season’s domestic season now over our attention is very much on supporting the GB squad as they prepare for the big events this year. This weekend they fly out to the USA until 21 May where they will get some valuable training and competition opportunities before the Canada Cup in June and the all important World Championships in August. Good luck to the squad, coaches and staff as their competition season really gets underway. While they are in the USA I will be in Canada for a few days with GB Trustee and IWRF Board member Richard Allcroft. We will be meeting with the management team who hosted the last World Championships in Vancouver in order to learn and help determine whether GB will bid to host the 2018 World Championships. At the same time we will take the opportunity to watch some of the Canadian National Championships.
David Pond
