Charlotte Cox

I would like to say a big thank you to South Cambridgeshire District Council for the award they made to me under their Elite Athlete Scheme.

This will be such a big help to me and I would like to say a very big thank you, I will make sure this is spent wisely and I will do my very best this year for Cambridgeshire. 

The Elite Athlete award is available to many athletes if you would like to know more about this please see SCDC web site:

 http://www.scambs.gov.uk/leisureandculture/london2012/sport/eliteathlete.htm

Sunday 3 April saw me competing in the SOGB London Indoor Games at the Lee Valley Indoor Athletics track in North London (one of my favourite venues).  I competed in the 60m and 200m sprints and succeeded in winning both events. It was a tough competition – with many of the athletes there from the National Games in Leicester in 2009.

I met some of the East Anglian team that I was with when I went to Leicester, it was nice to see team manager Ellen again.

Receving my 200m Gold Medal

A close-up of my Gold medal

Friday 25 April saw Mum, Harriet and I travel up to Runcorn for another athletics training session.  Some of the team were unwell so only a few of us made it.  My room mate Anne was suffering from a cold so I had a lonely room to myself.

Saturday we spent the day at the track training doing sprint and long jump exercises.

Earlier in the week my kit arrived – it now seems very real and not too far away.

Sunday 20 March was my first competition of the 2011 season in the SOGB Southern Region Championship at the Thames Valley Athletics Centre in Eton.

I competed in the 60m sprint and came second, to my World Games team mate Vicky, in a time of 9.7 sec and third in the long jump with a jump of 2.62 m.   Need to work hard at my long jump ready for World Games in the summer.

Silver and Bronze Medals

I’ve been busy doing indoor training over the winter and now it’s time to get ready for this years up and coming competitions.  I’ll be competing in the following competitions:

• Special Olympic GB Southern Regional Indoor Championships, Thames Valley (Eton) – 20 March 2011
• Special Olympics GB Greater London Regional Indoor Championships, Lee Valley – 3 April 2011

As World Champion I’ve also been invited to compete in the International Association for Athletes with Downs Syndrome (IAADS) European Championships in Sardinia on the 3 to 5 June 2011.  This is very exciting and I can’t wait to see some of the friends I made in Mexico last summer.

In Sardinia I’ll be competing in the 100m, 200m, 400m and the long jump.

On Wednesday 17 November me and Mum went to the East of England Showground for the presentation of the “Living Sport” Sports Awards 2010.  I had been nominated in the Disabled Sports Performer of the Year award, sponsored by Huntingdon Regional College.   This is an award I won last year so I did not expect to be successful again and Mum and I just went along to see all the local sporting champions.

When the Disabled Sports Performer award came on I had been shotlisted with a number of disabled swimmers and another athlete.  To my surprise I was given the award – for the second year running – this was great and capped off a wonderful year.

Me with the Disabled Sports Performer Award

I was also nominated in the Sports Performer of the Year category which included medal winners from the Commonwealth games.  This was won by Commonwealth Games gold medal gymnast Luke Folwell. 

 There were lots of famous sports people at the awards and nominated for awards these included gymnasts Louis Smith and Luke Folwell (who won Sports Performer of the Year), Commonwealth Games gold medal heptathlete, Louise Hazel and bronze medal heptathlete Grace Clements, and World Snooker Champion Neil Robertson.  It was a fantastic evening.

 To round off the evening Mum won a prize in the raffle.  The man presenting the raffle prizes teased Mum saying she had to run to the stage like me to receive her prize.

On Thursday 11 November my Mum, Dad and I attended the Star Awards dinner at Cambridge Regional College where I was a student last year.  I was nominated by my former course tutor, Michele for my hard work on the course and my sporting achievements outside college.

Michele and me with my award.

It was nice to be back at CRC seeing Michele and some of the students from my old course.  We had a lovely four course meal in the Park Restaurant cooked for us by students studying catering.  It was a wonderful evening.

I had my photograph taken with all of the Star Award Winners and the photographer recognised me from the BBC Sports awards last December.

On Monday 1 November my athletics club held it’s annual awards.  I was awarded the “Best Performance, Sprints” trophy which was presented to me by the club President, Mary Holmes.

Best Performer, Sprints Trophy presented by club President Mary Holmes

To celebrate my success in IAADS World Games in Mexico the village held a party in the village hall to congratualte me.  We all had a wonderful time.  Mike and Jan and the village musicians played a mix of Mexican and folk music.  Carol made a wonderful chilli for everyone to enjoy.

Preparing for the party

 

The village musicians

A busy bar

Me and my coaches Bryn and James.

Georgina from the University of Cambridge presented me with a cheque to help me get to Athens in 2011.  The money was raised by a team participating in the London to Cambridge Cycle Ride in which Harriet, Will and Connor took part.

Cheque presentation from the University of Cambridge

I hope everyone had as good a time as I did.

On the 2nd October I joined the SOGB Athletics Squad for our second training session in Runcorn.

The weather had been very wet in the days before the training session but on the Saturday of training the weather was kind to us.  We practiced sprint starts, long jump and relay.

Outside the Hotel in Runcorn

I learnt that I will be competeing in the 200m sprint (my favourite event), the long jump and the 4x100m relay.

While I was at training Mum, Dad and Will went sight seeing in Chester (again) – I think it was just an excuse to go shopping.

Mum in historic Chester

The squad will meet up again in March 2011.