Amost there

This morning was my last full training session before I jet off to Macau. I shot well and everything felt good. Both Fiberbows are set up perfectly and I have total confidence in both of them, so much so that for the first time since I've owned them I don't actually have a favourite!! Got to be a good thing.

Tomorrow the packing starts (sigh), that's the part I hate the most as it's always accompanied by that niggling feeling that I've forgotten something.

Anyhoo, As per usual I will be updating my Blog daily (or as much as possible), there will be photos galore and anything else I feel will be of interest. As I am now part of TeamGB, I'll be trying to keep up to date with all the other sports and letting you know of the successes they have also. I know Great Britain ranked 2nd in the medal table in Athens so let's hope we can repeat that. On top of all that I am also hoping to get to spectate at some of the other sports, Wheelchair Rugby (AKA Murderball) and the Fencing are two I would dearly love to see.

After following the Olympics on television for the last fortnight there are two things I am totally certain about, 1) This is going to be one of the most (if not THE most) proudest and amazing experiences of my life and 2) It's going to be one heck of an emotional two weeks. Oh there is one other thing I'm sure of, I will go out there and give it 110%. If I fail it will not be through lack of trying and If I succeed? well it'll mean that the highs and lows, the pain, the travelling, the sheer exhaustion and the support of all those close to me over the last few years hasn't been in vain.

A HUGE thank you to the people that sent me "Good Luck" cards, letters and messages, I am really touched that you care enough to do that and I shall try to make you proud. I will also try and get a photo uploaded of the Official supporters T-Shirts that Lou asked me to design. They arrived today and look fantastic if I may say so myself :)

Shooting Times Confirmed

Here is the shooting schedule for the Men's Standing Recurve Category (the one I shoot in)

Ranking Round,
Tuesday, 9th Sept. 2:00pm. - 4:30pm.

1/16th Eliminations,
Weds, 10th Sept. Between 10:30am. - 11:00am.

1/8th Eliminations,
Thurs, 11th Sept. Between 10:00am. - 10:30am.

Quarter Finals,
Friday, 12th Sept. Between 10:30am. - 11:00am.

Semi - Finals,
Sunday 14th Sept. 10:15 am. OR 10:30am.

Bronze Medal Match,
Sunday 14th Sept. 2:00pm.

Gold Medal Match,
Sunday 14th Sept. 2:15pm.

Medal Ceremony,
Sunday 14th Sept. 3:30pm.

And Again

Paralympics 6-17 September
Live coverage on BBCi
10.00am-4.00pm
There will be continuous live/as live coverage of the Games on BBCi throughout the day.

Paralympics 2008
7.00-8.00pm (Monday-Friday)
BBC Two/BBC HD
Clare Balding and Steve Cram present the best of the day's action at the Paralympics in Beijing. Viewers will get a round-up of all the news and action as we follow Team GB's Paralympians on their quest for glory.

Paralympics 2008
12.50-4.30pm (Saturday & Sunday)
(please note times may vary)
BBC One/BBC Two/BBC HD
Clare Balding and Steve Cram present live coverage from the Paralympics in Beijing.

More Coverage

Please click on the picture to go to the Paralympic TV website where you will be able to watch live and recorded footage from The Beijing Paralympics once they start.

If you're unlucky enough, i may be on there :)

BBC Paralympics Coverage

ParalympicsGB Team Beijing 2008
BBC Coverage of Paralympics

BBC television coverage of the Paralympics will be more extensive than ever before, action will be streamed live for six hours a day through the red button and via broadband.

There will be live terrestrial/red button coverage at the weekends and the opening and closing ceremonies will also be broadcast live including the handover to London moment on the final day.

Daily midweek programmes on BBC2 between 7pm and 8pm will be available on high definition (HD) and on iPlayer.

Clare Balding and Steve Cram will present the programmes from the Bird's Nest stadium.
There will be more live coverage than from Athens 12 different sports in all and there will be two BBC roving crews to record additional material.

Athletics, swimming, cycling, wheelchair basketball and wheelchair rugby will comprise the backbone of the BBC's TV coverage throughout the Games, but will be supplemented by coverage of other sports, particularly those in which ParalympicsGB have strong medal hopes like equestrian and wheelchair tennis.

GB have two football sides competing and adaptive rowing is a new Paralympic sport.
Commentators and reporters include Paul Dickenson, Bob Ballard, Eddie Butler, Ronald McIntosh, Nick Mullins, Eddie Butler, Phil Jones, Rishi Persad and Lizzie Greenwood-Hughes.
They will be joined by Paralympians Tanni Grey-Thompson, along with Ade Adepitan and Marc Woods as guest commentators.

All the coverage will be streamed on the BBC's award-winning Disability Sport website, where there will also be a daily blog written from Beijing as well as reports and photos on all the main action, results and medal table bbc.co.uk/paralympics.

BBC Radio 5 Live will bring all the news throughout the Paralympic Games with a dedicated team of reporters in Beijing. There will also be live commentary from some key events featuring strong British interest.

Other programmes covering Paralympic stories include: News, Olympic Diaries, Blue Peter and Radio Five Live to name just a few.

Back

Arrived home at around midnight last night, my head feels like it's filled with fluid..bleh i hate jetlag.

Looking back I would say the Korea trip was a great success for me. I shot well and as it was my first tournament of the year i really was unsure how it would go. The shooting felt good, the arrows were going (roughly) where i aimed them and i bagged myself my first medal of the year, well it was a trophy but you know what i mean. The qualification round went smoothly and i shot a 603 which i was quite happy with. The ground was VERY uneven which made it harder than usual to get good stability for shooting. I ranked 2nd in my class in the qualifying which gave me a bye in the first round of the elimination matches.

My first elimination match i won quite easily scoring 101 for the 12 arrow pass, i shot even better in the quater finals where i managed a respectable 103.

The semi finals weren't so good, i just couldn't get a stable footing and lost the match with a sorry 94. This put me in the Bronze medal match where i managed to shoot a 98, luckily this was enough to take the Bronze.

I made some good friends out there and am looking forward to catching up with them again in Beijing. The Trophy is probably one of the nicest ones i've seen, it's certainly the nicest i've ever won.

Although i was initially quite reluctant to go to Korea for this shoot, overall i think it was a really good experience. here are some more piccies.

Inspirational

Before we came to Korea, some of us were wondering why on earth we were coming here for a training camp. I actually thought it would be more beneficial to go and shoot in the heat of the Arizona Cup, at least that would have been nearer the conditions we would be shooting in at the Paralympics.
Well, today we had a day off and had a walk around the Olympic village (constructed for the Seoul Olympics) and it just twigged! I get the feeling that it was to inspire us and i really think it has.
Seeing all the Olympic buildings and visiting the Olympic museum has really increased my determination to get to Beijing and be a part of it, it's just plain awe-inspiring!