SOCIALLY UNACCEPTABLE ?

HERE IS A COMMENT I MADE TO " CYCLINGNEWS FORUM " tonight ! Recently they have been debating the right of a Guy needing " Blades " to compete !Who are they to debate anyone's rights when their only exercise is with a finger on the keyboard , of course their imagination leaps around somewhat during the search for something to add to the thread .

Today i was at a cycling event in Schwaz , Tirol where there were sections of the racing to include all ! Men , Women , juniors and even youngsters . there was even an australian , Liam Poole , competing in a team from Graz .

Everyone included ? No way , there was NOT ONE "Adaptive/ Physically Challenged person" there either as a spectator but more especially as a competitor ! The journalist i spoke to told me " THERE IS NO MEDIA INTEREST !"

What year are we living in ? Austria has about the best " Behinderten Ski Team " and the "Vorarlberg Behinderten Ski Team " has completed the "Race across America " some years ago !

SO ANYONE OF YOU DUMPING ON " Pistorius " for making the effort to remind the world there are those less fortunate than us LOOK IN THE MIRROR and ask yourself if you could endure even a portion of the demands made of him by those that would wish that he did not make the efforts for himself and those like himself .

Next year in London we will see many our " Politicians " sent in "Harms Way " serving their community and country once again on the sport field ! Some of those will not measure up to YOUR LOFTY standards but then they were given little choice about the way they did their duty and the consequences that resulted !

WE ALL OWE " OSCAR PISTORIUS " a debt of gratitude for his opening a door and encouraging more to try to reach an " Olympic or Paralympic Standard " and there are some aspiring to London that will not be able to go becaue of the " Rules & Regulations " that currently exist AND also the lack of funding and support from those whose only exercise is with the finger on a keyboard !

My blogs only seem to reach a few people BUT those reading them should take the time to ask their network of contacts to carry the story further .

Christian Van de Velde

Looking at Twitter today i see that Chris V. is involved with a new charity www.savealimbride.org which has been supported in the past by George Hincapie.

About 1% of the population is born with limb deficiency so this is an important charity although it is based in the Baltimore area. With the Paralympic Games less than 2 years from now it is important for people to support any organisation which helps athletes to participate .

The World Road Champs are on in Melbourne currently and i recall when they were in Salzburg and shortly thereafter in a NZ road race Paul Crake became a statistic and now uses a wheelchair as primary transport. Alex a friend in Jenback was at his wedding last year so was able to tell me that Paul is adjusting to his new life style.

Too often we forget that Wootton Bassett "Repatriations" are only the visible tip of the casualities returning to the UK from work in "Harms Way", and Sport plays a growing part in the rehabilitation of these service personnel. Over the past year i have tried to encourage "Help4Heroes and Wounded Warrior Project" amongst others to take my "Relay idea" and see if they can get support for a "Team of Disabled/Adaptive Athletes " to ride the route of the Major Cycle Tours to publicize the need for more Sponsorship of "Para Athletes". At these events there are numerous journos looking for a story and "Free Publicity" goes begging whilst the people i speak to consign my idea to the "Too hard basket"!

Anyone who is able to help me get through to those who can assist please email me on skippi@ausi.com