Paula wins prestigious Helen Rollason Award for Inspiration
29th November 2003Endurance athlete Paula Craig has been awarded the prestigious Helen Rollason Award for Inspiration at the Sunday Times Sportswomen of the Year Awards ceremony.
Paula was a keen athlete and triathlete before suffering serious injuries in a road accident as she was training on her bicycle in 2001.
She is now bidding for a place in British squad for the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens, where she hopes to compete in the marathon or the 5000m.
Paula, who still works as a Police Detective Sergeant, said she was honoured to win the Helen Rollason Award. She said: "I was absolutely delighted to win the award. I knew I had been shortlisted, but I had no idea I had won it. I was over the moon."
The day after winning the prestigious award, she was off on a flight to New Zealand, where she will compete in the disability event at the Triathlon World Championships on 6th December. Last year Paula finished third in the same event in Mexico.
"I would dearly love to go to Athens next year," she said. "My best chance would be the marathon, but the difficulty for me is going to be that I need to get a fast marathon in early in the year. I'm going to see what I can do.
"I love the taking part and the most important thing is that I continue enjoying it," she added.
Paula ran the London Marathon each year between 1995 and 2000, clocking a time of 2:57 in the 2000. She finished third in the women's wheelchair section of the event last year in 2:06.54, just two minutes behind second-placed Tanni Grey-Thompson.
About 1000 athletes in 14 sports are vying for places on the British squad for the Athens Paralympics, which take place between 17th and 28th September next year. Great Britain will take a squad of more than 220 athletes backed by around 100 support staff to the Games.
Great Britain finished second behind the host nation in the overall medal table at the Sydney 2000 Paralympics, with 41 golds, 43 silvers and 47 bronzes.