The Paralympics kicks off in 9 days’ time, and 2 of the hopefuls are from Walsall, which is where Tardis is based! They even went to the same school as 2 of our employees, one of which being me.
Ellie Simmonds and Ryan Cockbill will both be competing at this year’s Paralympics. Ellie Simmonds may be a more familiar face to you due to her success in Beijing 4 years ago.
Ellie was born 11 November 1994 in Walsall, West Midlands and competed at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, China in the 50 m, 100 m and 400 m freestyle, 50 m butterfly, and 200 m individual medley. She swims in the S6 disability category.
At the age of 13, she was the youngest British athlete in China. She came 5th in the 200 m individual medley and won gold medals in the 100 m and 400 m freestyle events and hopefully there is more success to come at this year!
This year will be Ryan Cockbills first Paralympics; he will be taking part in shooting. His first international competition was the 2010 IPC World Cup in Sczcecin, Poland, where he returned home with four trophies. Other career highlights include the 2011 IPC Shooting World Cup in Fort Benning, USA, where he won a bronze medal in the R5 10m Air Rifle Prone Mixed SH2 bearing all this in mind I don’t see why there couldn’t be a gold medal on the way!
Everyone at Tardis would like to wish a massive good luck to Ryan and Ellie!