May the fourth be with you Libby

A cup of coffee in one hand and a bacon roll in the other, staff at ESPC sat down this morning to a great presentation from Libby Clegg, the Paralympian who is being sponsored by ESPC this year.

Libby gave an insight into her life as an athlete, the training, the psychology of competitive racing, drugs testing and what she gets up to off the track. Particular highlights include:

• her reaction to being told that she was not a medal prospect at a major event she was attending. Too polite to write the words here but the result was that she did medal at that event.
• learning how Libby and her guide runner work together in a 200m race to deal with the track bend.
• what a typical week of training is like. It all sounded very exhausting.
• hearing about her training group with other Paralympians.
• her explanation of the procedure around drug testing and the PTP (pressure to pee).
• gaining an understanding of the team that is with and behind Libby as she trains and races.

Plus we all had an opportunity to see and try on her Beijing Paralympic silver medal which is a combination of real silver and jade. Hopefully we will get to see Libby with an even larger medal collection later this year.

In honour of the date and what Libby has ahead of her this year, will end this post with how it started "May the fourth be with you Libby". If you want to keep up to date on all things Libby visit www.facebook.com/espcteamlibby.