Teenager part of elite squad 
Telford Journal 21st December 2005 By Eleanor Harris

A Telford teenager is hoping for paralympic glory after being handpicked to become part of an elite training squad. Lord Silkin School pupil Mickey Bushell has been picked to join the World Class Performance Plan Development Squad. 

The 15-year-old from Ketley Bank, who is the under-16s world champion for 100 and 200 metre combined wheelchair racing, will be primed for sporting glory and is hoping to compete in the paralympics in 2008 or 2012. 

He has also been ranked eighteenth in the world overall for 100 metre wheelchair racing, number one in Great Britain and fourth in Europe. 

Mickey, who travels to Birmingham three times a week to train with the Birchfield Harriers, was handpicked for the squad after he was spotted by talent scouts at a race recently. “I’m very excited,” he said. “I race all over the country at the moment and hopefully this will give me a chance to race abroad, they won't so much as coach us, but teach us and help us." Mickey from Ketley bank said, he hoped to compete at the paralympics in 2008 and 2012 he said he hoped being part of the squad would help him achieve his goal.   Mickeys father Peter said he and his wife shelley were very proud of his achievements he said he has put alot of hard work into it he and his coach Paul Hunt have both worked very hard what this means is that they think he has a shot at the podium position in 2008 or 2012 or possibly both they will give him advise and take him on training and testing weekends to help him qualify for the paralympics. Gloria Partridge at the school said Mickey's achievement was "amazing" she said: "it's so fantastic, here at the Lord Silkin school we are very proud of Mickey and his achievements and look forward to the paralympics with even greater interest."

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And It's a Blue Peter badge for our Mickey 
Telford Journal 15th September 2005 By Eleanor Harris

A Telford teenager had 15 minutes of fame when he made a special appearance on national television.  Mickey Bushell, 15, took part in a live wheelchair race on CBBC's Blue Peter on Tuesday, along with six other top athletes.  Mickey's appearance comes after a successful year as a competitive wheelchair racer which saw him become the youngest competitor in the sports most lucrative and toughest challenge.  

Only 25 competitors from all over  the world were invited to take part in the 2K Tyne Tunnel UK race on Sunday, which made its come back last year after a 10 year break.  Mickey secured 16th place in the prestigious race which was won by Canadian Jeff Adams.  Mickey said he was more nervous about appearing on Blue Peter than doing the race, but he was excited about both of them.  His appearance on Blue Peter was shown on terrestrial TV yesterday.  

He was invited to take part in the Tyne Tunnel race after being nominated and selected.  Mickey was born with a rare spine condition but has not let it hold him back and is currently ranked first in the country in his age group in wheelchair racing.  

The year 11 pupil at Lord Silkin School now hopes he will meet qualifying times to secure a place in the GB Olympic team.  "He's definitely on track to join the GB team for 2012, and maybe even the 2008 in Beijing," said his father Peter.  

A recent win at the junior world championship in Stoke Manderville saw him secure eighth ranking in the world and fourth in Europe.  Earlier this year Mickey was named young disabled sportsman of the year by Birmingham sports council and runner up in the young achiever category at the npower and English Federation of disability sports awards.  In 2004 he met Prime Minister Tony Blair. 

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Our wheelchair athletes on Blue Peter
Featured on Get Kids Going Website 14th September 2005 By Get Kids Going

Last week a number of our wheelchair athletes took part in the gruelling Tunnel 2K race.  A few days later and in advance of the Great North Run, the BBC's Blue Peter wanted to re-create the atmosphere and got seven top wheelchair athletes to take part in a mini race at the BBC TV Centre in Wood Lane.  Five of our athletes were amongst them. 

Mickey Bushell, David Weir, Tushar Patel, Shelly Woods and Brian Alldis were five out of seven wheelchair athletes who set off to re-create some of the speeds experienced at the Tunnel 2K race and were filmed by the BBC's Blue Peter.

In an earlier piece Shelly and Mickey displayed their skills by navigating around giant bean bags in the famous Blue Peter studios in West London.  In the actual 2K Tunnel race Mickey came 16th and completed the course in 8 minutes and three seconds.  The winner was Jeff Adams, from Canada, coming in at four minutes 40.1 seconds through the tunnel, he beat our very own David Weir into second place. 

However, Tushar Patel clocked the course's fastest speed of 41.4mph. Australian Eliza Stankovic won the women's event with Get Kids Going! Shelly Woods second and our vice president Dame Tanni Grey Thompson came third. 

In the mock race at the BBC, Tushar also came in just slightly ahead of David Weir.

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Mickey could be big at London 2012
 Featured on CBBC website: 14th September 2005

Wheelchair racer Mickey won the wheelchair event at the 2004 Junior Great North Run and the 100m race at the 2005 British Open Mens event in Manchester. And he's only 15 years old, so he could be a superstar at the 2012 London Olympics!

How did you first get involved in wheelchair racing?
Somebody came down to my local school and told me to come down and train with the Birchfield Harriers who are a wheelchair track team.

What has been the greatest moment of your career so far?
Winning the 100m at the British Open Mens for the T53's. The T53 is the disability class that I compete in.

Do you have a sporty family?
No, not really - I'm the only one!

What advice would you give to someone who wants to get involved in wheelchair racing?
Try to find a club with a coach and try and get into a proper racing chair. You need a different wheelchair for racing - usually with three wheels. Sometimes at the clubs people will let you try on their chairs or they already have some spare ones you can use. My coach had the same condition as me so luckily I got his old one!

What do you do to prepare for a race?
I try to drink loads of fluids and get lots of rest the night before.

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Get Kids Going! at the World's Largest Triathlon
Featured on Get Kids Going Website 8th August 2005 By Get Kids Going

We had over 80 athletes take place in the world's largest Triathlon - The Michelob Ultra London Triathlon. We were one of the four official Gold charities for this great event.  The two day event was held at London's Excel Centre, the Docklands, around Westminster and Canary Wharf. 

A Get Kids Going! wheelchair team also competed in the triathlon made up of our wheelchair athletes - Mickey Bushell, Brian Alldis and Kevin Ward. 

David Butler from the London Fitness Centre did the cycle leg of the event for Mickey, which was a tremendous achievement as he was part of the L'Etape du Tour team only two weeks earlier, and Jennifer Hall did the swim for the entire wheelchair team.

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More records broken at World Junior Championships
Featured on Get Kids Going Website 3rd August 2005 By Get Kids Going

The first IWAS (International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports Federation) World Junior Championships was held at Stoke Mandeville Stadium on 6th & 7th July 2005.  Once again Get Kids Going! wheelchair athletes who formed a major part of the Great British (GB) squad, gave outstanding performances.

Nathan Stephens from Bridgend was the dominant figure in the under-18 field events, winning the shot, discus and javelin titles. 

Sarah Loughran enjoyed double success, taking the under-21 sprint and middle-distance titles.

Mickey Bushell won the under-16 combined sprints (100 and 200m) crown. Coach, Paul Hunt, an inspiring Get Kids Going! athlete reported: “The 200m was the first event on the 7th, again Mickey had an early start, but a gust of wind on the bend helped his opposition go past, Mickey closed the gap down the home straight but ran out distance to take them he finished 3rd with a time of 31.95 sec.  This was enough to earn Mickey the under 16's world Sprints championship.”

Sam Scott of Wales won the under-16 javelin and discus with a new World records for both events.

Brian Alldis, who was named in the GB team for the European Championships in Finland next month, finished second in his events to Switzerland's Marcel Hug. 

Paul Hunt, provided a brilliant report of the track events and told how the team heard an exciting announcement on the 6th:

“Everyone made their way to the café to wait for the 2012 announcement. Thankfully it was the decision we all dreamed of… London hosting the Olympics and Paralympics in 2012. Everyone cheered - it was great to see so many happy faces.”  “Personally I would like to congratulate the whole Great Britain team in making the competition a great success for the country.  I endeavor to make the team bigger for next year's event.” 

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Steve Dashes Rival's Hopes!
 Featured on IC-Lichfield website: 20th July 2005

The 8th npower Dash, Lichfield, attracted another big crowd last Saturday (July 16th) to Cathedral Close where 2003 and 2004 champion Steve Blagdon captured a unique treble triumph in a thrilling race.  The Lincoln Wellington athlete caught Hallamshire Harrier Chris Taylor on the final bend and edged home in a time of 56.8secs, just inside the 12 noon chimes.  Taylor too finished inside the chimes in a fast 57.3secs with Birchfield Harriers' Marc Turner just outside in 3rd place at 59 secs. Other finishers were: 4th Patrick Bannister 59.2; 5th James Trollope (Cannock and Stafford AC) 60.19; 6th Andrze Sawtoski (Rugeley RR) 63.00; 7th Wes Southall (Staffs Fire Service) 63.04; 8th Ray Plant (City of Stoke AC) 63.60; 9th Warren Harrison (Banbury Harriers) 67.2. Steve was delighted with the outcome which means he gets to keep the original City Jewellers Trophy. 

"What a fantastic result for me! I've won titles and championships on the athletics scene in the North of England but this is the best feeling yet. I've enjoyed running in Lichfield, it's a great atmosphere and I get a fantastic reception from the crowd - it's a real motivation. I'll be back in 2006 as I want to hold onto the dash title for as long as I can!" 

npower dash organiser Kevin Wilson was also thrilled: "To get Steve back to defend was touch and go because of his commitments but his clash with Chris Taylor who beat him at the npower dash Birmingham last October was about revenge for Steve and he got it.  He's a quality guy and a real sprint star. He'll be back next year alright." 

England cricket ace, Clare Taylor assisted with the presentations and took time out to do some coaching with children at the dash.  There were also high jump displays and face painting.  npower spokesperson Nick McHugh explains: "Lichfield's champions of today are our Olympic Heroes of tomorrow.  npower believes in helping to build healthier communities by supporting activities which promote participation in sport. It was heartening to see so many children take part and many families come together all within the beautiful surroundings of Lichfield Cathedral." 

Collections made on the day went to St Giles Hospice. As well as the dash other running events took place on the morning and results were; in McDonald's Junior race series (1 circuit) 8s and under: 1st boy Mitch Averis.  

1.35; 2nd boy James Hargreaves 1.37; 1st girl Eleanor Howitt 1.39; 2nd girl Emma Ruffley 1.41. 10s and under: 1st boy Richard Mansell 1.24; 2nd boy Robert Gleeson 1.26; 1st girl Natalie Haslam 1.35; 2nd girl Jessica Cope 1.40. 12s and under: 1st boy Chris Hammant 1.09; 2nd boy Luke Roughley 1.13; 1st girl Lily Sutton 1.20; 2nd girl: Sarah bates 1.27. 15s and under: 1st boy George Nash; 2nd boy Luke Casserly; 1st girl Camilla Heywood; 2nd girl Lydia Earnshaw. 

Alpha Sports 100m Junior Invitation: Joint 1st: Camilla Heywood and Josh Leaver 13.6. Robert Broad Travel Pursuit Chase: Tabitha Sloper (Birchfield Harriers). 

City Jewellers Open Mile: Andrze Swatoski (Rugeley Road Runners) 4.42. HSBC Veterans Mile: Malcolm Eustace (Tipton harriers) 4.46. 

Go4it Projects 800m Wheelchair: 1st Paul Hunt (Birchfield Harriers) 2.45; 2nd Mickey Bushell (Birchfield Harriers) 2.53. 

npower Fun relay: 1st Robert Broad travel, 2nd Ansons Solicitors. 

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The next race was a chance to have a 1st and 2nd for GB, where Brian Alldis and Dominic Cheshire went head to head. But their was one problem they had to beat Marcel Hug, Switzerland who is the number one junior in the world and keeping up with best in the world at senior level.  

Dominic had a great start and pulled away from Brian and Marcel, then Marcel took control of the race and was first over the line, behind him the race was being battled out between Brian and Dom for second and third, Brian picked up in the last 40m to come and take 2nd in a time of 15.78 sec. Dominic finished 3rd and achieved a personal best in time 16.23 sec.  Sarah Loughran had a good start as she got away from her Swiss rival to eventually win the 100m in a time 18.62 sec another personal best.  At 12:30 everyone made their way to the café to wait for the 2012 announcement. Thankfully it was the decision we all dreamed of… London hosting the Olympics and Paralympics in 2012.  Everyone cheered - it was great to see so many happy faces. 

It was back to the serious stuff on the track 400m was next up on the programme, Kevin Ward competing in his first major event since taking the sport up 2 years ago. On a very windy day, Kevin found it tough on the back straight; he came home in 7th in time of 1.11.37 min.  Brian came 2nd to Marcel, Douglas 6th, Dominic 5th , Mickey and Sarah came 4th in the 400m. Times were down a little due to the strong wind.  Everyone finished for the day apart from Brian who had a 1500m to come. The race started well for Brian taking on Marcel from the gun, he lead for the first 600m, but then the time came when Marcel came out and overtook to up the pace and take the lead Brian tried to respond but with the quality of Marcel, he found it hard to keep in his draft. With plenty of time ahead for Brian I am sure he will soon be up there with Marcel and others. 

On Thursday we woke up hoping the weather had improved but how wrong were we! The 200m was the first event of the day, again Mickey had an early start, he had a great start but a gust of wind on the bend helped his opposition go past, Mickey closed the gap down the home straight but ran out of distance to take them, he finished 3rd with a time of 31.95 sec. This was enough to earn Mickey the under 16's world Sprints championship.  Douglas in the 200m had a fantastic bend to set himself up for a 2nd personal best of the week he finished the race in 6th position. There were some very talented athletes in this age group. Anderson from Sweden became world Sprint Junior champion for the under 19's.  Brian and Dominic again came face to face in the 200m. Dominic knew he had to beat John Glynn and David Griffiths of Ireland to guarantee bronze for the sprints under 21's. He beat John Glynn in a very close contest,  it went right down to the line, but unfortunately he could not get past David to take bronze. Dom came 4th overall in the Sprints division. Brian came 2nd again to Marcel to take silver in the same division. 

Sarah had to come first to guarantee gold. She had a blistering start coming off the bend ahead of Sandra of Switzerland, Sandra pulled back Sarah to be neck and neck with 20m to go, but Sarah again pulled away and hung on to take the females under 21's sprints title.  Kevin lined up for 800m his second race of the week, after a good first lap 200m to go Kevin kicked tried hard and closed the gap on 6th place, unfortunately he never quite caught him. With the great effort he showed Kevin achieved a personal best time of 2 min's 21 seconds. Kevin finished 7th overall for the middle distance division.  Douglas was involved in the best 800m of the day where all 8 athletes finished inside 2 sec's of each other.  After the break on the back straight Douglas caught up the pack, and slotted in 3rd position this was the set pattern for most of the race, with 150m to go the front 2 kicked and pulled away. 3 athletes also kicked behind and came past but he held on to finish 6th .  Also achieving another PB of 2min's 3secs. 

Brian and Dominic had to face the formidable Marcel Hug again in the 800m.  Brian finished 2nd to cap off a great week for himself.  Dominic only managed to complete 50m after trouble with his straps on his chair.  Personally I would like to congratulate the whole Great Britain team in making the competition a great success for the country.  I endeavour to make the team bigger for next year's event.  The Great Britain Team: Sarah Loughran (Teesside), Brian Alldis (Bury St Edmonds), Douglas Stone (London), Dominic Cheshire (Manchester), Mickey Bushell, (Telford), Kevin Ward (Wolverhampton) and Coach Paul Hunt.

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Wheelchair stars claim big wins!
Featured on the BBC Website Disability Sport Section 17th July 2005  

Some of Great Britain's talented young wheelchair athletes came away with notable victories from the IWAS Junior Championships at Stoke Mandeville. 

Nathan Stephens from Bridgend was the dominant figure in the under-18 field events, winning the shot, discus and javelin titles. 

Sarah Loughran enjoyed double success, taking the under-21 sprint and middle-distance titles. 

Mickey Bushell won the under-16 combined sprints (100 and 200m) crown. 

Lee Lower claimed victory in the under-21 wheelchair discus and finished second in the shot while Sam Scott of Wales won the under-16 javelin and discus. 

Brian Alldis, who was named in the GB team for the European Championships in Finland next month, finished second in his events to Switzerland's Marcel Hug. 

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Mickey Bushell Crowned World Junior Champion!
By Tom McCook -Featured on Birchfield Harriers Website 14th July 2005  

Mickey Bushell was crowned World Junior (Under 16) Sprint Champion at last week’s International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports Federation World Junior Championships at Stoke Mandeville. The inaugural Championships attracted entries from ten nations including the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Ireland, Jordan, Latvia, Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland.

The 15 year old Birchfield Harrier, who has twice won the London Marathon Mini Wheelchair Race, recorded a career best performance for the 100 metres of 16.89 seconds.  The 200m race was won by Switzerland’s Maurice Amacher in 31.57 seconds.   Mickey who is coached at the Alexander Stadium by Paul Hunt finished third and came within four tenths of a second of Amacher which was sufficient to take the first ever World Junior Sprint title. 

Mickey also won a bronze medal in the 400 metres. 17-year old Kevin Ward was sixth in the (Under 21) 800m and seventh in the one lap race.  Last Saturday Bushell won an Invitation 100m Sprint on his home at the Alexander Stadium on the final day of the English Schools Championships to round off a memorable few days for the youngster from Telford.

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For more information please contact Lisa Clarke on 01543 304904 / 07903 934209 or Jenny Simons on 01905 340605/07788 638419.  Teams from all areas of the community, are being invited to take part in either of the relay races at this year's npower dash event on Saturday, July 16 in Cathedral Close.  Kevin Wilson added: "We have two relay races, there is a fun relay and a more competitive one.  Each year more teams want to take part, so we are asking businesses and organisations in Lichfield to give us a call and book their team!" Teams should be made up of 3 or 4 runners each prepared to run at least one circuit of the Close.  The cost is £5 a team and all money raised goes to St Giles Hospice.  This is the eighth year that the npower dash has been staged in Lichfield and it is part of the Lichfield International Festival. 

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Telford's Mickey Bushell storms to victory in 
the World Games at Aylesbury

Mickey's Success goes on and on
Shropshire Star Tuesday 12th July 2005 by James Garrison 

Shropshire athlete Mickey Bushell has kept his success story rolling by adding a 
host of medals and records to his collection. The 15-year old pupil of Lord Silkin 
School, Telford, has become World champion in the combined sprints at the World 
Disabled Games in Aylesbury Bushell won the 100m event in blistering fashion 
before finishing third in the 200m. The two performances were then combined 
together to produce an over all winner and Bushell's consistency proved crucial. 
That success followed hot on the heels of a sterling performance at the national 
championships in Blackpool. There the teenager, who trains at Birchfield Harriers, 
swept the board in the 100m, 200m and 400m events, claiming British National 
records in each event. "Mickey is in great form at the moment and hopefully he 
can continue that for the remainder of the summer," said his father Peter. "His 
long term aim is to be in the paralympic team in 2008 and 2012 at Beijing and 
London and he is on course for that."

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Records set at the National Junior Championships
Featured on Get Kids Going Website 2nd-3rd July 2005 By Get Kids Going

Get Kids Going! athletes were once again victorious at the National Junior Athletics Championships 2005 held at the Stanley Park Stadium in Blackpool on the 2nd and 3rd of July. 

Brian Alldis won an amazing three gold medals for his great performance in track events. He came first in the 800m, 1500m & 3000m races.  On the field events Sam Scott gained personal bests in his three disciplines. Competing in the boys under 15 category, Sam achieved a new national record for his javelin throw of 20m 6cm. 

Sam's Mum, Sandra said “We believe that he will have also set a national record for his discus result of 20m 56cm but this still needs to be confirmed by Disability Sport England (DSE) who hosted the event.” Sam's final personal best was in shot put where he achieved a distance of 6m 5cm.

Both Sam and Brian are now competing in the World Junior Championships in Stoke Mandeville on the 6th and 7th of July. They'll be joined by Get Kids Going! other promising young athletes Mickey Bushell, Kevin Ward and Dominic Cheshire. This GB squad will be coached by another Get Kids Going! wheelchair athlete, Paul Hunt.  

Sam will be adding two track events (200m and 1500m) to his field events and competing in the Pentathlon at the games.  His mum Sandra said “He hasn't been very well lately, but he's a very, very determined young man and will go through the pain barrier to win.”

We'd like to wish all our athletes the best of luck in the World Junior Championships and hope to report more records, medals and personal bests next week.

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Youngsters Selected To Compete In World Disability Games
Featured on Birchfield Harriers Website 30th June 2005  By Tom McCook 

Deborah Brennan and sixteen year old Streetly schoolboy Steve Mason jet off to America on Saturday to compete in the Cerebral Palsy World Games in New London.

15-year old Mickey Bushell and 17-year old Kevin Ward have been selected to represent Great Britain in the 2005 World Junior Disability Championships to be held at Stoke Mandeville next week. Both teenagers will compete in the 200m and 400m events whilst London Mini wheelchair double champion Bushell will also go in the 100 metres over which distance he recently defeated his hard working coach Paul Hunt in the National Senior Championships. 

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More victories at the British Open Athletics
Get Kids Going Website Wednesday 15th June 2005 By Get Kids Going

Get Kids Going! athletes gained some fantastic results at the British Open Athletics held in Manchester last weekend. The athletics meeting which featured many world class athletes who competed in the Olympic Games in Athens. 

David Weir was one of those Paralympic champions and he came away from Manchester with three gold medals and one silver.

In the 400m he carried off gold with an impressive time of 50.21 seconds. In the nailbiting 100m events there was a dead heat and both David and Kenny van Weegel could not be separated at 15.06 seconds, so they both took away a gold medal.

The 800m saw great results from both David who won at 1 minute 53 seconds, and Brian Alldis who is also supported by Get Kids Going! took second place.

David's final medal was in the 200m where he came second.

Fifteen year old Mickey Bushell also carried the Get Kids Going! flag and had a great weekend. He won the T53 100m Mens final, and came 4th in the 200m final and 5th in the 400m.  These results were particularly impressive as in the 200m and 400m he was racing against Hamad Aladwani from Kuwaiti, who is the World Record Holder for the 400m!  Mickey managed to set a new personal best in the 400m, and knocked just over a second off his time.

We would like to say congratulations to David, Mickey and Brian and wish them every success and more medals in their future events.

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Jane from Get Kids Going

Mick loses toe, but still wins race!
Get Kids Going Website Wednesday 18th May 2005 By Get Kids Going

Fourteen year old wheelchair racer Mickey Bushell, did not let losing the end of his toe stop him from a great win in a 200m race at the weekend. 

Mickey was taking part in the West Midlands round of English Federation for Disability Sport, as a qualifier for the National championships in Blackpool, when he noticed something red fly past him.

Mickey's dad Peter said, “He didn't actually feel any pain and so took no notice as he was just determined to win. It was only when he had finished the race that a friend asked why his sock was so wet. When he pulled off his sock his foot was covered in blood and he had lost the end of one toe.”

Fortunately his toe is recovering well and will grow back and Mickey had a fantastic time at the event winning his other two races too.

He had a personal best in the 100m with 17.3 seconds (previous time was 18.1 seconds) and he romped home in the 400m with a new personal best of 68.1 seconds (previous time was 71.02 seconds).  Mickey's coach Paul Hunt who is also supported by Get Kids Going!, told the excited youngster that his 100m time was actually faster than Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson who won Gold medal at the Paralympic World Cup at about the same time Mickey was losing his toe!

Mickey is now going on to take part in a number of other events including the Manchester 10K, where he's been given special permission to race with adults.  In early June he'll be taking part in the Great Midlands Fun Run in Sutton Coldfield, although Mickey's dad said Fun Run is not the most apt name for the event. “It's actually 70% uphill and there's a section in the race which is nicknamed Cardiac Hill, but I'm confident that Mickey will give it his best shot.”

We'd all like to wish Mickey every success with his future races and of course a speedy recovery with his toe.

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TEAM TAVERNERS TAKES ON THE LONDON MARATHON
Featured on The Lord Taverners Website: 18th April 2005 By The Lord Taverners

The 25th Anniversary of the London Marathon brought brilliant weather and 
another enthusiastic team full of runners for The Lord's Taverners. 

We were thrilled to have EastEnders star, Ricky Groves, as a celebrity runner 
as well as Richard Bates, England Women's Cricket Coach; Jamie Clifford, 

Director of Cricket Development at Kent Cricket Board; Mike Griggs, 
Chairman of Selectors for Women's Cricket; Jimmy Hindson, Media Manager of the Professional Cricketers Association, Gordon Lord, ECB Coach Education Manager and Gordon Swinney, ECB Coaches Association Communications Officer. 

Young wheelchair athlete, Mickey Bushell, who races in a wheelchair donated to him by The Lady Taverners, came third in the 14-17 age group. This was an excellent result for Mickey as this was his first year in this category and he knocked off over three minutes from his time last year!

While Paula Radcliffe may have taken home the winner's trophy, all of the runners felt like champions as they endured the 26.2 mile course and collected their medal.  Thanks to all of our competitors, the charity should raise around £80,000 – not bad for a little jog in the sun! 

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Our Wheelchair Team Sweeps the Board at London Marathon
Get Kids Going Website: 18th April 2005 By Get Kids Going

On Sunday 17th April 2005 the Get Kids Going! No 1 Wheelchair Team swept the board at the 25th anniversary of the Flora London Marathon.

Shelly Woods came second in the Women's Senior Wheelchair race and was only 3 seconds off winning. Shelly completed the race in 1hr 57 mins and 3 seconds. This was a fantastic achievement for the 18 year old as it was the first time she had entered the London Marathon at senior level.  Many people saw her smiling face when she was interviewed by Sue Barker on the BBC1 coverage of the event and her shock of coming in faster than her mentor and our Vice President Dame Tanni Grey Thompson, OBE was clear to see.  

Tanni came third in the race with a time of 2 hours, 2 mins and 39 seconds, but was clearly delighted with Shelly's impressive result too.  Athens Paralympic medallist David Weir took third place in the Men's Senior Wheelchair Race. David completed the 26.2 mile race in 1hr 36mins 03secs.

In the Flora London Mini Marathon Louise Hunt was victorious in the junior girls 11-13 year old wheelchair race, finishing in a time of 18 mins 3 secs. The boys did not let the side down either with Phillip Pratt winning at 18 mins 51 secs in the 11-13 year old race.

The senior boys were also great with Douglas Stone winning the 14-17 section with 13mins 9 secs; Kevin Ward took second place with 13mins 45 secs.  Mickey Bushell came third in 13 mins 45 secs and Andrew Tongue was just behind with 15 mins 11 secs. Finally we had a fantastic result in the 14-17 year old section. Jenny Hill won with an impressive time of 24 mins 17 secs.

We would like to say congratulations to all the team!

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