British Transplant Games
Norwich
29th July - 1st August 2004
A Review of the Norwich Games
The Freeman
Sports Team
The
Freeman team won
2
Gold
/
9 Silver
/
14 Bronze
medals.
Great effort by everyone.
As manager of the Freeman
Adult Sports Team at the British Transplant Games I can tell you that we had 16
competitors and 2 supporters. All of the competitors having had either a heart
transplant or a lung transplant at the Freeman hospital in Newcastle. We also
had a children's team competing at the games.
Thursday 29th July
(Click on images to enlarge)
As registration was to take place this afternoon I had
arrived a day early so that I could get a practice round of golf in early on the
Thursday. 
I was accompanied on course by Ian Lewis-Jones and Dave Parker and relieved them
both of a 'saucepan lid' as I played really well.
Game over and off to the University of East Anglia (UEA) to
register and check into our rooms. As I was with my wife Christine we
had a double room en-suite booked and I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised
when we opened the door and entered. I had feared the worst. Never having
stayed on campus before, I had heard mixed views.
As manager I felt it my duty to
offer as much support to the rest of my team when I was not competing so after a
quick unpack it was off to the Showground to watch the cycling. 
Derek Riley from Carlisle (pictured) being our representative won a creditable
silver medal.
Cycling finished and back to
the UEA for the opening ceremony, which in truth was pretty disappointing and a
bite to eat which was even more disappointing, I only had a sarnie as there was
a 30 minute wait for hot food due to the sheer volume of people in the cafe.
Off to bed as we had to be up for breakfast by 7.15am so as
to be able to tee off at 9am in the golf. Luckily Christine and I were
allocated the marquee for our meals which was only yards from our room. The
rest of the Freeman team had a 15 minute walk to another venue for their
meals. Fortunately the weather was kind or I think there would have been some
unhappy campers on campus.
Friday 30th July
The weather was glorious as the shotgun start got under way.
I played OK without repeating my form from the day before and it was no surprise
that Ian Lewis-Jones was the first ever winner of the Sheaun Orpen Trophy.
Sadly, Sheaun has passed away since winning the golf competition in 2003 and the
new trophy will be played for annually in his memory. I finished 4th
in the 'scratch' competition. Disappointing, but still not too bad.
Martin Hutchinson, another Freeman golfer, could not
reproduce his winning form from Dublin and had to settle for a top 20 place as
did our genial Irish golfer David Robinson.
There must be other golfers among Freeman patients and I urge you all to come
forward and take part in these events. Often as not they are played
on excellent golf courses.
In the evening the 200 people lucky enough to have secured
their places on board, were royally entertained on a Mississippi River Boat
trip.
Saturday 31st July
As I was not competing today Christine and I supported as
many of the team as we could in their chosen sports. We spent a long time in
the badminton hall and watched shuttles being cocked all over the place. I
have to admit to being hopeless at badminton, but noticed my golfing buddy
Norbert McGarr and his partner, who were excellent. They knocked out
our own Dave Lyth / Dave Donkin pairing, who were strongly tipped to do well.
The winner of the 'Teddy Tingling' best dressed female award
has to go to our own Judith Burgess (pictured with Paul Savage and Joan Whitney)
in her co-ordinated outfit, displaying the little crocodile (no free advertising
here) on all items. 
Martin Hutchinson also performed very well with a new partner and I understand
they are to team up again. As ever, young Adrian Woodcock won a gold medal at
the event with a smile on his face and no complaints. He too has found a new
partner and they will be formidable opposition on the world stage.
A couple of our team were competing in the archery and I was
glad to see that the 5-a-side courts were empty behind the targets. I was
quivering with excitement and admiration at the skill of all of the archers (tum
tee tum tee tum etc) as they fired their arrows with unerring accuracy.
Congratulations
are in order to Sue Wrightson from the Freeman who won her first ever medal at
the British games when she claimed the bronze. Our gold medal winning shot
putter Bernard Grainger is also a dab hand at the arrows and if he had dressed
in green could easily have been mistaken for Little John.
Congratulations to our volleyball players who came away with bronze medals.
After lunch, OK a sticky bun and what was sold as a cup of
tea (imagination of the highest order required) and we were off to watch the
tennis on an afternoon becoming increasingly hotter by the minute.
The Super veterans' male tennis was of the highest quality
and once again 'Mr Happy' aka Adrian Woodcock was in the medals and won a bronze
after playing for some 5 hours. Credit where it's due, the tennis players
worked hard for their gongs. Mick Foster, John Barnes, George Connor and
Daniel Walsh were evenly matched and I am not 100% certain who took gold, but
I'll hazard a guess and go for George.
Another quick shower and bite to eat before attending the AGM
of the TSAGB, which was very well attended as a result of being held at a time
when there were no competitions taking place.
Colin Mitchell, Secretary of the GB cricket team was elected
to the committee as was Jean Howard-Jones. Michelle Morrow was re-elected and
Peter Ford was asked to serve for 12 months and then seek re-election after
coming 4th in the ballot as another place was available for that period.
Congratulations to them all.
There were some very interesting topics brought up at the AGM
and I intend to continue the debate on these pages by way of a new section which
I will entitle Transplant Sport News & Issues. Keep an eye out for this new
feature, as I know a lot of you would like to contribute.
The 'Campus Street Party & Disco' was the fare for the
evening and am I glad I had not paid £10 in advance for the privilege. We
spent the night in the student bar and much was discussed about the games so far
and the games to come the morrow.
Sunday 1st August
Track and field is the order of the day and some fine
performances were given. Competition was as keen as always, especially with
team selection for the World Games in Canada next year up for grabs.
As I had not automatically qualified as a golfer my persona
took on the guise of an athlete. The 100m and long jump could provide me with
the ticket across the pond if I performed well. If I could run sub
14 seconds somewhere near my pb of 13.6 (achieved in Dublin in June) I would be
delighted. My time was 13.7 secs which I am more than happy about.
If I had been offered that time before the race, I would have taken it without
hesitation. It turns out the guy who beat me, Barrie Laverick is a former World
champion at the distance (he won in Sydney '97) and also won in 2002 in
Loughborough. His time was 13.2 secs which is fantastic. 
He went on to win the 200m / 400m / High jump and beat me
into 2nd place in the long jump. Winning 5 gold medals in all he won the
Novartis award for the best athlete at the games. Need I say more? Yes I
think I should - well done Barrie
Paul Savage and Derek Riley both won medals as did Rob
Hodgkiss from the Freeman in track and field so well done those three. As I
said earlier, Bernard Grainger won the shot putt and was our only gold medal
winner in track or field. An excellent performance by the big man.
Bernard Grainger with silver medallist Brian Witham from
Harefield.
I would also like to offer my congratulations to Martin
Graham. Martin lives not too far from me, but as he has had a kidney
transplant is not part of the Freeman team. I know he won other medals too,
but his crowning glory was the gold medal for the 400m in his first games.
Great stuff Martin, well done.
The Gala Dinner
Personally I thought it was good and the speeches and other
formalities were just of the right length. At the conclusion we all
transferred to the student union bar (again) and danced the night away to a
fantastic live band. 
As is customary at midnight all competitors and supporters alike held hands and
sang 'You'll never walk alone'. It is a very special song and has become our
anthem to finish off the Games. I think we all shed a little tear and think
of Ross Taylor, our late and much loved former chairman, at this
moment.
Beverley / Martin / David Robinson / Christine / Rob Hodgkiss.
In summary - These Games were not perfect, they never
can be.
