by Stuart Weir
Gavin Drysdale, in Race running, photo by IPC
I like Race running. It is something old, and something new. At the end of the day, race running opens athletics to a whole new enthusiastic group of athletes.
Race running
I first saw race-running at the IPC World Championships in Dubai last year. It is another example of the diversity of our sport.
It was in the World Champs for the first time with men’s and women’s 100m in what is called RR3 category. The first world champions are Gavin Drysdale and Kayleigh Haggo, both from Scotland, club mates and with the same coach. Both set new world records in Dubai- 16.72s and Haggo 18.32s.
See Haggo win at https://twitter.com/i/status/1195391566044712962
Gavin Drysdale, photo by IPC
The ‘Race Runner’, which is a three wheeled frame, where the athlete is supported by a saddle and body plate. Kayleigh explained to be how it works. Race-running is a tricycle with no pedals. It’s got two back wheels and one front wheel. It’s got a chest plate to hold me up and handlebars. I sit on the seat and hold on to the handlebars and run with my legs which means that I don’t need to worry about falling over. I can just run”.
Kayleigh Haggo, photo by IPC
Haggo, who graduated from university in sports coaching the day before flying out to Dubai, commented: “I’m so happy, to come away with gold at the world championships, I can’t believe it. I’ve got a personal best and a world record so I can’t ask for anything more than that.”My start wasn’t very good so after that I just had to run fast and put my head down. To represent Great Britain is amazing and to represent them and do well is a great honour and to win that for my friends and family, I don’t know what to say”.
Haggo spoke to British Athletics after the race Kayleigh Haggo Post RR3 100m World Para Athletics Championship Gold – YouTube
Drysdale, who speaks with the aid of an I-pad, said afterwards: “Wow, I cannot believe it. I knew I would probably have to break the world record to win it. It is absolutely amazing to have race running in the world championships for the first time. It gives the opportunity for people like me to compete at the highest level. I remember watching London 2017 two years ago wishing I could compete, so to be here two years later is a bit surreal. Being here in Dubai is amazing. I have loved being part of the GB team again. When I went to Berlin (for the Europeans) last year it was so much bigger than I was used to, but this has been on another level.”
Watch my interview with Gavin at https://twitter.com/i/status/1195447656744652801
Kayleigh Haggo, photo by IPC
In case there is any doubt, they are serious athletes. Haggo told me that she had been doing Race-running since she was nine years old and that she does nine training sessions a week three track sessions and the rest in the gym, the pool or a spin bike.
Haggo has cerebral palsy: “It affects my limbs – my two legs my arms and my hands – my balance, my motor sport skills and my speech. I use a wheelchair. I can walk but not for very long”.
Kayleigh Haggo, gold medalist, photo by IPC
Prior to last year’s world championships she had competed only on the European stage. “2019 was the first World Championship I’ve been to”, she told me, “but I’ve been to the European championships in Berlin in 2018. Race running was not in previous world championships. Berlin was a good experience I was competing in the class above and came away with a silver medal”.
“From a young age”, she continued, “I had always wanted to put on the GB kit and compete for my country and it was amazing to be there. It was such a bonus that we are in Dubai, a warm country. I always do better when it’s warm. It was really good”.
While Race Running is in the IPC World Championships, it is not yet in the Paralympics. That is significant as GB sports funding is track and field is related to Paralympic medals. Kayleigh (and Gavin) may be world champions and world record holders but they don’t get funding from the British Athletics Paralympic program as Race-Running is not a Paralympic event.
Kayleigh has to work to support herself. She is a sports co-ordinator for Active Schools, which provides school-age children with opportunities to take part in sport and physical activity before school, during lunchtime and after school, and to develop effective pathways between schools and sports clubs in the local community. She is also involved in Inspire South Ayrshire, a disability sport inclusion project that ensures people with additional support needs have a wide range of opportunities to allow them to take part in sport.
Like all athletes, Kayleigh struggled with lockdown this year with events, including a trip to Poland canceled. Her reaction is typical of the special person she is: “I saw it as a positive because it gave me more time to train and get stronger. My training increased during lockdown because I wasn’t as busy with work. I could recover faster because I wasn’t as busy. It was actually good for me in terms of getting ready for next year”. She still managed to compete five times and win five times in 2020: “It was a good to get five races – especially for a season that wasn’t going to happen. I was very pleased with my results and I got the 200 world record which I wasn’t expecting. But it just shows that the training I did in lockdown paid off. So I was really happy with the season”.
Race-running is an unusual event one which helps para athletics to be more inclusive. As Gavin Drysdale puts it: “It gives the opportunity for people like me to compete at the highest level”. For me that is the essence of para athletics, wanting to compete and finding a way to do it.
Gavin Drysdale, photo by IPC
