British Transplant Games 2010 - Sunday

Early morning - no time for breakfast! Off to the University of Bath for a day of athletics - the British Transplant Games.




The weather forcast was rain and rain...but WOW....it was sunny!!



Earlier this year the Bath Chronicle published an article about me and the family, particularly the link between athletics officiating and being a transplantee. So today was my turn to show what I was made of, and be one of the timekeepers.


What makes this event - the Transplant Games - so very special, is the mixture of ages and abilities. There are some very competitive and competent athletes, and there are so many more fun loving, have a go, fabulous transplantees - from walking age to "150"!!

The two pictures above show a member of the King's Transplant Team (in the lead).

The children's hospital teams were simply, a delight. These gorgeous little children from Papworth, King's, Great Ormond Street, Guys, Bristol Royal, Plymouth, Edinburgh - and so many other wonderful life saving units - were just inspirational.

Pudsey Bear is always a part of the Games, and the little ones just swarmed round him/her!! On the Saturday I met a family from Kingston. I asked who had had the transplant because they all looked so well, and the little girl aged about 4 or 5 said she had. She had needed a kidney but would not have lived had she had to wait on the donor list. She was however very lucky. Both her parents were compatible - and her dad donated one of his kidney's to his daughter. How lovely is that?

Have you ever been somewhere where all you have done is smile all day? Because that is exactly what I did. Just watching everyone trying so hard; marvelling at some of the speeds; and just loving the smiles on everyones faces.

There were only 3 timekeepers including me, but the atmosphere was very relaxed and fun. The longest track race was just 1500m but the morning was very intense with race after race of sprint heats and 800m.

There were even 20m sprints for the under 5s. The picture below is the crowd of people allowed on the track to encourage these little athletes. One little girl ran in a wheeled frame, others with feeder tubes in - can you imagine the cheers??

The day of athletics finished with relay finals of which the King's Team had only managed to qualify into - but they did brilliantly and won Silver. Well done King's - all of you..