Hannah Cockroft

WHEELCHAIR RACER LOOKS BACK ON HER MINI MARATHON EXPERIENCES

- Ryan Goad

THE Virgin Money Giving Mini London Marathon is one of the most prestigious youth events in the country and has seen some of the cream of British runners come through the system and then go on to make their mark on the world stage.

This year is the 10th year the Mini Marathon has been the British Championships for under-13, under-15 and under-17 athletes and held over the three mile distance.

In the run-up to this year’s event on April 22, we will feature some of the athletes from across the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland who have come through the ranks of the Mini Marathon to make it on the global stage.

HANNAH COCKROFT, ENGLAND

2009, 1st: Girls 14-17 wheelchair race;

2010, 1st: Girls 14-17 wheelchair race

HANNAH COCKROFT is one of Britain’s most famous and decorated Paralympians so it is hard to believe that she took up wheelchair racing just months before her first Virgin Money Giving Mini London Marathon victory in 2009.

The Yorkshire star was at a British Paralympic Association identity programme in Loughborough as a seated thrower having won the discus competition at the UK School Games when Ian Thompson, the husband of Tanni Grey-Thompson, asked if she had ever thought about wheelchair racing.

“My dad was with me and, being a typical Yorkshireman, he said: ‘Well, we are down here now, you might as well have a go’,” Cockroft recalls. “So I did and I loved it so much that I quit throwing on the spot.”