Becoming a role model

Back at the start of the year, I was approached to consider an opportunity to appear in a marketing campaign for a lingerie brand. Now whilst I am very confident in who I am, the thought of appearing in my underwear for a marketing campaign worried me a little. I'm a disabled athlete and its hard enough to gain exposure for me and my sport without being seen the wrong way. I want to be taken seriously as an athlete.

However, when the campaign was explained to me and I saw some mock images of what they visualised, I couldn't wait to be involved and am now honoured to have been selected.  I don't really see myself as a role model, I just do what I do and work hard at it, but if I can inspire other people along the way then I'm really happy.

Panache Lingerie have just launched a pioneering campaign to change the face of how women are portrayed in the media and by advertisers by creating REAL role models who women and girls can relate to and aspire to be like.  

Being part of the Modelled by Role Models project has been an incredible journey and I've met other completely inspiring girls along the way and heard their stories and what drives them. 

The photos were taken in March and we were all sworn to secrecy until the launch, which was held at BAFTA in London this week.  It was great to see all the girls again and to finally see all our photos and videos together.  It was a really empowering evening and I hope other girls and women will see the images and realise we are all different, yet we are all still beautiful.

#modelledbyrolemodels #myrolemodel #panache #inspirational #women

Racing through the year

Wow, where is 2015 going? I seem to have been so busy since the start of the year and now it's race season.

Since getting back from my warm weather training and competitions, I've been busy with my training and I've also had a chance to see some of my sponsors and be able to do some work with them as a way of thanking them for their support. I've also done some great photo shoots, which I love as it gives me the chance to be a 'girl' and look glamorous for the day and not just hide my hair under my race helmet and wear my training kit as is my look most of my days!

My summer season race season started on Sunday 3 May, where I raced over 100, 200 and 800m in the British Wheelchair Racing Association Championships at Stoke Mandeville, Bucks. As expected for a bank holiday weekend, the rain came down and conditions were pretty horrible!

All races at the BWRA Championships are mixed classification, so I was super pleased to come away with a win in the 200m and a 3rd place, first t34 to cross the line, in the 100m and 800m. And the times weren't all that bad considering the conditions. A definite improvement from this time last year!

From Stoke Mandeville it was then on to Bedford on Bank Holiday Monday for the British Universities and Colleges (BUCS) Outdoor Championships, where there were fortunately much better conditions for the race! I was only competing over the 100m and am proud to have won Coventry University's first gold medal of the championships and to be wearing their colours!

I'm now looking forward to racing again at Stoke Mandeville next weekend.  The season is well and truly underway.

#wheelchairracing #BWRA #BUCS #CoventryUniversity