Never Giving up..

My Uncles words to live by…

This journey so far has taken over 14 years of my life, which is pretty much half of it, and for what- one medal…

It sounds a little bit crazy when you think about it; especially now having the World title back under our belts…

I once heard a quote from Iain Percy saying that winning World Championships is all well and good, but that title only lasts a year, once you’re the Olympic Champion, or in our case, the Paralympic Champion, no one can take that away from you, and it lasts a lifetime.

Today would have been my Uncles birthday, but we lost him a few years ago to cancer. It was a really hard time for us as a family seeing him that way, but I guess in someways we were lucky as his fight wasn’t long and drawn out.
My Uncle was a pretty amazing man; funny, adventurous and loyal to all of his friends, and he loved the water as much as I do. His career as a rigger saw him travelling the world with the Jubille sailing trust, adventures to the southern ocean, as well as rigging some boats on a few well known films including Elizabeth, Pirates of the Caribbean to name but a few!
He also firmly believed in never giving up, and a conversation with him after the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games has stuck with me ever since.

Following up from the Worlds, there were some items in the press where Steve had been quoted as saying that he uses the 2012 disappoinment as a driving factor towards Rio.

It’s true… Having your dream ripped from underneath you by things that you can’t control is heart breaking. I re-read what I wrote around the time of the incident in my book… There’s so much emotion and confusion, but pretty much straight away a desire to carry on…

So Uncle Jamie, thanks for the advice, it’s written downstairs in the Games boat, and don’t worry, I won’t….