ATHLETICS: Sally shines in Manchester

After four days of fantastic competition, the Great Britain & Northern Ireland team were crowned BT Paralympic World Cup trophy champions and Sally’s performances would help the total points tally take the team to victory.

Being the youngest by three years in her events T46 100m and 200m, Sally would have to produce performances equal to that of her senior’s debut in New Zealand, if she wanted to be in with a shout of a podium result.

Her events would field a highly competitive line up, most of the athletes having competed at the World Championships in January and including the world number one, Castillo Yunidis from Cuba.

Her first event was the 100m, with a bad start she found herself back in fourth place, but Sally stayed composed and focused, producing a very strong finish securing the bronze and two points in 13.16secs just outside her own lifetime best.

Sally maintained her composure in the 200m with strong and confident run to take the silver and three points in 26.10sec. Once again she has exceeded expectations and produced performances that she can be very proud of.

The Cuban was outstanding in both races and a clear winner but with 15 months to go before the 2012 Paralympics in London, Sally has every intention of staying focused and closing the gap between them.

Sally has also been busy competing in non-disabled events, representing Limavady High School at the Ulster districts in the 300m. This is the first time she has competed at this distance but took to it well, winning silver at the districts and following that up with silver at the Ulster Schools finals. She will now compete at the Irish Schools in Tullymore on June 26th.

Sally’s progress towards 2012 can be followed on her Channel 4 video blog at

http://paralympics.channel4.com/the-athletes/athleteid=187/index.html#Sally Brown