Duo are braced for the World Transplant Games
TWO athletes from Shepshed and Rothley are heading to Newcastle this weekend as part of the Great Britain & Northern Ireland taking part in the 2019 World Transplant Games.
John Mould and Richard Brown are set to take part in several athletic events as part of the GB team when the championships get underway on August 17.
It follows their part in the success of the Leicestershire team at the annual British Transplant Games held at the end of July in Newport, Wales.
More than 900 competitors took part all having had a transplant of some sort and the nine-strong Leicestershire team of Tim Ake, Charlotte Binley, Richard Brown, Annamarie Gross, David Herbert, Rachael Mitchell, John Mould, Ian Preston and Michael York won seven gold, six silver and two bronze medals between them.
The medal haul included gold (5k race walk), silver (table tennis) and bronze (5k road race) for Shepshed’s John Mould and a bronze medal in the 1,500m for Rothley’s Richard Brown.
Mould and Brown earned selection for the world championships alongside Leicestershire team mates Charlotte Binley, David Herbert and Michael York.
Team Great Britain and Northern Ireland will join 1,000 other transplant athletes from 60 countries across the globe and all the athletes, have all survived either a heart, lung, kidney, pancreas, liver, small bowel or bone marrow transplant.
Mould said he was looking forward to taking part in Newcastle after just missing out on medals at the last World Transplant Games in Malaga in 2017.
“I was delighted to be selected but unfortunately Achilles and then knee problems have severely hampered my running training and so, that being the case, my only aim now is to compete as best I can.”
He added: “We are keen to highlight the on going need for people to talk about organ donation and hopefully sign up for the organ donor register. It is also vital that folk who do sign up to the register tell their families that they do wish to donate their organs. We are also keen for folk to sign up to become blood donors as blood saves lives.”
• For information on the NHS Organ Donor Register, join the British Bone Marrow registry or donate blood, tissue or platelets visit www. organdonation.nhs.uk or www. nhsbt.nhs.uk or phone 0300 123 2323. To register for the Anthony Nolan Bone Marrow Register visit www.anthonynolan.org