Recently in Beijing Category

Catching up on Four Years of Sleep

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"I am going to catch up on four years of sleep" that was the plan revealed this morning by Darren on BBC breakfast. It has been a hectic few weeks, not only for Darren but for all of the ParalympicsGB athletes in Beijing.

They arrived back yesterday in a Gold nosed British Airways plane to cheering crowds at Heathrow's Terminal 5. The athletes were 'released' in small groups to allow time for photographs and Darren barely had time to snatch a hug and kiss from the family before being whisked off to a photo op. The Families then went to the first class lounge to wait. After a while they were back for another round of hugs and kisses before off for a press conference. Press conference over and almost 2 hours after the plane had landed the athletes finally belonged to their families again and it was time to prepare for the journey home. For some it was on to another plane, for others there was long drive ahead, the lucky ones were already close to home.

From a family point of view a big thank you to the British Airways staff for all their help and hospitality during the waiting times.

Day Seven - 13 September 2008

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Today was the last day of cycling for ParalympicsGB, a fact I am sure that will be welcomed by the other countries.

Darren was in the final race to start of the day, the Men's Individual. Road Race LC 3/LC 4/CP 3, along with fellow ParalympicsGBer Simon Richardson. Towards the end of the 60.5 Km race there were just two riders that had broken away from the pack, no surprises that they were Darren and Javier.

Darren dug into his reserves in the last 150 meters to finish 1.74 seconds ahead of Javier and claim Gold in his final event of the games. Simon Richardson finished 10th.

Darren said later "It's an honour to race with Ochoa. It makes winning even more special"

Taking into account the 2 Golds and 1 Silver won in Athens 2004 and the 4 Golds and 1 Silver in Beijing, Darren is now the most sucessful British Paralympic cyclist ever.

There was Gold to today for David Stone in the Mixed Road Race (CP1/CP2) , coming home a full 3 minutes before his nearest opponents.

Rachel Morris finished in sixth place in the individual hand cycling road race (HC A-C) and Mark Bristow finished 24th in the LC1-2/CP4 road race.

That brings ParalympicsGB medal total on the Road to 5 Gold, the teams 17th Gold for these games.

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