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Jason Gills' view on wheelachair races and handcycles

"In response to the requests from BWRA for comments, her goes..... as one of the few athletes in the country who have raced in a racing wheelchair and on a handcycle, I can see the problem from both sides, racing wheelchair athletes want to see more numbers at events and handcycles want more publicity but the problem comes when handcyclists enter an event for wheelchair racers at a running event and try to claim the prize money too.

Handcyclists have a massive advantage through gears as on one of my marathon training routes, I am 8 mins faster on my old heavy Varna handcycle than I am in my racing wheelchair so it's not down to fitness!
I would love to do some of the events on a handcycle, it's so much easier to train on and faster too but we all need to remember that a handcycle is the disabled alternative to cycling, whereas the racing wheelchair is the disabled equivelant to running and the two can not compete against each other in a runners event.
Up and down hills - my speeds on an uphill can drop to 8kph in my racing wheelchair but only drop to 11kph on the same hill on my handcycle ! Going down the hills, I can't hit the rims over 38kmh but gravity can get me up to 70kmh in my racing wheelchair. On my handcycle, I can still be pedalling in top gear over 70kmh.
I'm all for handcyclists doing runners races for charity but when they are racing, they need to start seperately from racing wheelchairs and we know from the Great South Run, the event organisers don't want to add to the logistical nightmares they already face and then we all loose out.
If handcyclist continue to sneak into runners races, entering as 'wheelchairs' the event organisers will stop putting in the extra effort to allow any disabled entrants to their races unless it's for charity, in which case, we'll only be allowed to start at the back, behind all the other 'charity' runners !
Unpopular opinions but fact as seen by me.

Jason Gill (wheelchair athlete and handcyclist)

NPC Rwanda has a plan to develop wheelchair racing in Rwanda. They have purchased one wheelchair from Germany and are contacting people for support to obtain more! The target is 20 wheelchairs. Please let us know if you can help in anyway or have any bright ideas.

The NPC contact is Celestin NZEYIMANA, Secretary General, National Paralympic Committee of Rwanda

NPC RWANDA

Amahoro National Stadium / Remera Entrance number 7

P.O. BOX 839 Kigali Rwanda WWW.NPCRWANDA.COM <http://www.npcrwanda.com/>

Tel.: (+250) 788 618 220 President

(+250) 788 672 739 General

NPC use sport as a tool of social integration for disabled people in Rwanda, as well as sport for competition. Many people are amputees and survivors of genocide.

Stoke Mandeville Training

For those who are not aware, the Vale of Aylesbury Athletics Club is running disability athletics sessions every Tuesday at Stoke Mandeville Stadium. If you are interested in attending, contact Dan Barber on 07738 314062 or email dbarber@buckssport.org

New BWRA Chair

David Burdus

David is Promoter of the Tyne Tunnel 2K International - "fastest wheelchair race on the planet", took up the postition as Chairman of the BWRA in May 2011.

Said Burdus, "This is a very exiting time for wheelchair racing and for the BWRA. As governing body, we look forward to promoting a positve profile for the sport, developing partnerships and contributing to the 2012 Paralympic legacy.

My immediate priorities are strategy development and fundraising".

Contact david@burdus.com or +44 (0)7980 887861

May 1st - Stoke Mandeville, BWRA Track Champs 2011. It's every man for himself as Bushell T53, Weir T54 and Schuh T54 battle it out in the 200m. Click here for

BWRA Champs 2011 Results