Record breaking week at the Nottingham 2015 CPISRA World Games
On Thursday 6 August, Cerebral Palsy Sport 'welcomed the world' to Nottingham for the 2015 CPISRA World Games. Over ten days, 400 athletes and coaches from 13 nations competed across six sports and produced some record breaking performances.
The 2015 CPISRA World Games took place in the historic city of Nottingham from 6-16 August, with the majority of competition taking place at the new iconic Harvey Hadden Sports Complex. The event attracted over 400 athletes and coaches from 13 nations, who took part in a range of sports - athletics (race running and slalom), bowls, football, para-taekwondo, swimming and table cricket.
On Thursday 13 August, Scottish schoolgirl Shelby Watson (pictured below) set a new world record in the T33 wheelchair 400m race with a time of 1.14.46 secs. Shelby, 17 from Moffat in the Scottish Borders, clocked the impressive time in the 400m event and also took the gold medal in the 100m race.
Ian Mirfin, Scottish's Athletics Paralympic Lead was delighted to hear about Shelby's success at the Games, he said:
'She trains six days a week, works really hard, and is now getting her rewards for all the effort she puts in. It was a terrific performance in not the best of weather conditions.'
There was more success on the track through Scotland's Gavin Drysdale, who did the golden double with victories in both the 400m and 800m RR3 class RaceRunning events. Out in the field, the men's ambulant discus competition was a clean sweep for England. William Baxter took took gold in the T36 with a throw of 31.72m, Rob Page recorded a winning 31.11m throw in the T37 and Mitchell Dutton completed the hat-trick with a throw of 35.42m in the T38 competition.
In the pool, 29 gold medals were contested and shared among five of the six nations competing in the swimming competition. Will Holland-Leavens, a 24 year-old swimming teacher from Salford won three gold medals in the S6 category for 100m backstroke, 200m individual medley and 50m freestyle. While 16 year-old Grace Harvey from Hertfordshire, broke her own british record twice on route to victory in the SM7 individual medley 200m.
On Friday 14 August, three more World Records were toppled outside at the Harvey Hadden Athletics Stadium. England's Muninder Hayer broke the record in the men's seated club throw F31 class, with a throw of 12.18m. Scotland's Gavin Drysdale was back in action in the 200m RR3 RaceRunning, taking the gold medal in a record time of 38.15secs. In the RR2 class Denmark's Lasse Kromann broke new ground with a time of 40.00secs over 200m.
Russia took gold in the men's football competition beating Brazil 3-2, while England battled it out against Scotland to take the bronze medal, winning 2-1. The football competition at the Games also doubled as the inaugural Under 19 Cerebral Palsy Football World Championships. Building on the success of the Cerebral Palsy Football World Championships that took place at St George's Park earlier this year.
Table Cricket, a new sport to the CPISRA World Games programme turned out to be a real crowd-pleaser, with England and Australia taking part in a demonstration final. The Ashes style showdown was a close contest from start to finish, but in the end it was Australia that took the gold medal winning by 18 runs.
Australia also came out on top in both the individual and pairs bowls competition, with Josh Barry proving too good and taking gold in both events. England's pairings of Les Smith and Steve Angus, and George Peirrepoint and Laurie Turner held off challenges from two Scottish pairs to take silver and bronze behind Australia. In the individual competition, Laurie Turner and Steve Angus won silver bronze medals once again behind Australian Josh Barry. Picture below shows bowls players and Louey, the World Games mascot at Nottingham Indoor Bowls Centre.
After the Games, silver medallist Laurie Turner announced his retirement from International bowls. He has competed in the CP World Games since 1981, initially in track and field athletics. before switching to bowls in 2001.
The Games came to a close on Saturday 15 August, with a fantastic closing ceremony that reflected on the last ten days of competition. The theme of the ceremony was 'transformations' and focused on the experiences of the athletes, their achievements and the great sporting spirit that surrounded the Games.
The Nottingham 2015 CPISRA World Games was hosted by Cerebral Palsy Sport in partnership with Nottingham City Council, Nottingham Trent University, Carillion Plc and Irwin Mitchell Solicitors. Over 200 volunteers, known as Games Starters worked alongside the CPISRA event team to ensure that all aspects of the Games ran smoothly.
Congratulations to all the athletes, coaches, volunteers and staff involved in Nottingham 2015 CPISRA World Games from everyone at the English Federation of Disability Sport.
Photo credit: Epic Action Photography, Cerebral Palsy Sport.
