Sport Star of the Month

This week started on a high when I was announced as the joint senior 2008 Sunshine Coast Sport Star for May (I actually found out last week and it was really hard to keep a secret!).The award was announced by Advance Sports Sunshine Coast president Benny Pike at a breakfast held at Caloundra RSL (major sponsors of the awards, which are also supported by the weekender) to honour all the winner thus far.The breakfast guest list read like a who’s who of Sunshine Coast sport, including Beijing bound Olympian Samantha Hamill (swimming), Paul Fleming (boxing) and talented junior sport star of the month winners. Sunshine Coast Olympic great Denise Boyd was also there, representing her Beijing-bound daughter Alana Boyd (high jump) while Clint Robinson (kayaking) was represented by his father.I now join a host of other successful Coast athletes in the running for the prestigious Senior Sport Star of the year award, which will be announced in January. This award is really close to my heart because reading about previous winners in the newspaper when I was a child was one of the things that inspired me to train for the Paralympics. Plus, I love frocking up for a great night out at the awards. It is great to see Paralympians being recognised alongside Olympians and other elite athletes.I chose to share the morning with my closest fans and supporters: my mum, Marion, my boyfriend, Alex and my grandparents, Frankjie and John Borgh. On the training front I have been working hard on my handcycle, but the burn on my leg still hasn’t healed, so I have not been allowed to go swimming. I am emailing photos of the burn to our team doctor, Dr Lari (who is in Germany with the Aussie wheelchair basketball team), and am waiting to get the all clear to get back in the pool.All the rain we’ve had lately has been making it a bit hard to get out and about on my bike. I went out on the weekend and got bogged in a patch of mud. Then my tyres were so slippery they had no traction going up hills. So I’m now on a windtrainer in my lounge room. Here’s to sunshine and swimming again soon!