Last update - 03/07/07

British Transplant Games
(29th July - 1st August 2004)

A Review of the Norwich Games

Thursday 29th July

As registration was to take place on Thursday afternoon I arrived a day early so that I could get a practice round of golf in early on the Thursday.   I was accompanied on course by Ian Lewis-Jones and Dave Parker and relieved them both of a 'saucepan lid' as I played really well, scoring 40 points and going round in 79 gross.  

Ian  / GM / Dave & Christine.
(Click photos to enlarge)

Ian is a 9 handicap golfer and I knew he was one to watch in the competition proper.    Dave plays off 15 and hits the ball a long way and would be a threat in the Stableford comp, he is also the vice captain for our forthcoming cricket tour to Australia.

Game over and off to the University of East Anglia (UEA) to register and check into our rooms.   As I was with my wife Christine ( aka Mrs Boggy on other pages) we had a double room en-suite booked and I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised when we opened the door and entered.   I had feared the worst.   Never having stayed on campus before, I had heard mixed views.

As manager I felt it my duty to offer as much support to the rest of my team when I was not competing so after a quick unpack it was off to the Showground to watch the cycling.   Derek Riley from Carlisle (pictured) being our representative won a creditable silver medal.   My mate (apprentice management with potential as yet unrealised) Reg Chisholm from the Scottish Bravehearts was also in the event.   I am sure he will not mind me saying that he has not enjoyed the best of health in the past few months and if there is one event where this will show up, it has to be the gruelling cycling.    Pearl Cameron another Caledonian cyclist also performed admirably, more about Pearl later.

Cycling finished and back to the UEA for the opening ceremony, which in truth was pretty disappointing and a bite to eat which was even more disappointing, I only had a sarnie as there was a 30 minute wait for hot food due to the sheer volume of people in the cafe.

Off to bed as we had to be up for breakfast by 7.15am so as to be able to tee off at 9am in the golf.   Luckily Christine and I were allocated the marquee for our meals which was only yards from our room.    The rest of the Freeman team had a 15 minute walk to another venue for their meals.    Fortunately the weather was kind or I think there would have been some unhappy campers on campus.

Friday 30th July

The weather was glorious as the shotgun start got under way.   My playing partners were Norbert McGarr a 13hcp golfer of some repute and a chap by the name of Declan Logue who claimed a 26 handicap but had to play off 24, the maximum allowed in the competition.

I intend this review of the games to be an honest account (as I see it) and if I have a few moans I will not keep them to myself.   Equally where praise is deserved I will offer it gladly.   If you have any comments to make please use my 'Guest Book'.    It is widely read and if you want to make your voice heard I suggest you use it.

I played OK without repeating my form from the day before and it was no surprise that Ian Lewis-Jones was the first ever winner of the Sheaun Orpen Trophy (photo).     Ian shot a gross 80 and beat Ian Hillier (another who is coming on tour down under) on countback.      Bronze medal was claimed by Stephen Carr of Papworth, he beat me by 1 shot so that I finished 4th in the 'scratch' competition.   Disappointing, but still not too bad.

The winner of the stableford competition was Richard Mills with an unbelievable score of 42 points, he beat 2nd place Howard Waters by 5 points. The bronze medal was won by Nicholas Hall from Kings'.

I have a couple of gripes regarding the golf, wait, make that three.

(1)   The groupings were done in alphabetical order, surely a draw could be made, as is done in every other sport.   If not, I will never ever get to play in the company of 95% of the field.

(2)   Handicaps!!!!!!      As happens every Saturday in every golf club in the land, there must be categories defined by a player's handicap.   Even if not three divisions, there should be two.   18 handicap and under and 19 and above.   I am casting no aspersions (unusually for me) but some of the handicaps are very generous to say the least.   Generally speaking the lower the handicap the more accurate it is.   There must be a separation point and then the competition is fair.

(3)   Presentation Ceremony - was dreadful.   Surely a proper ceremony could have been organised and thanks given to the host golf club, the staff, the green keepers and the scorer.   I know Ian wanted to say a few words, especially in Sheaun's memory, but as he was overcome at the fact he had won, for the first time in 12 attempts, the moment passed.   Among the golfers there are people who could easily have acted as MC, I include myself in that category, but no-one asked us.

This should never happen again.

Congratulations to Helen Philpott who won the ladies scratch competition.    The ladies' stableford was won by Margaret Gambrill who had her heart transplant at Papworth in 2002.   Well done ladies.

In the evening the 200 people lucky enough to have secured their places were royally entertained on a Mississippi River Boat trip.   After dining in the marquee, Christine and I stayed on campus and sampled the delights of the union bar in the splendid company of the Liverpool team.   I enjoyed a few games of table football partnering Andy Knox, but I think we were hustled by Dave Weaver (another cricket tourist) and his partner and Brian Armstrong from the Belfast team.

Saturday 31st July

As I was not competing today Christine and I  supported as many of the team as we could in their chosen sports.   We spent a long time in the badminton hall and watched shuttles being cocked all over the place.   I have to admit to being hopeless at badminton, but noticed my golfing buddy Norbert McGarr and his partner, who were excellent.  

The winner of the 'Teddy Tingling' best dressed female award has to go to our own Judith Burgess in her co-ordinated outfit, displaying the little crocodile (no free advertising here) on all items.   Martin Hutchinson also performed very well with a new partner and I understand they are to team up again.   As ever, young Adrian Woodcock won a gold medal at the event with a smile on his face and no complaints.   He too has found a new partner and they will be formidable opposition on the world stage.   

A couple of our team were competing in the archery and I was glad to see that the 5-a-side courts were empty behind the targets.   I was quivering with excitement and admiration at the skill of all of the archers (tum tee tum tee tum etc) as they fired their arrows with unerring accuracy.  

Congratulations are in order to Sue Wrightson from the Freeman who won her first ever medal at the British games when she claimed the bronze.   Our gold medal winning shot putter Bernard Grainger is also a dab hand at the arrows and if he had dressed in green could easily have been mistaken for Little John.   

After lunch, OK a sticky bun and what was sold as a cup of tea (imagination of the highest order required) and we were off to watch the tennis on an afternoon becoming increasingly hotter by the minute.   Young Andy from the Liverpool team was our adopted favourite and he progressed to the final with sublime ease, more about that in a moment.  

The Super veterans' male tennis was of the highest quality and once again 'Mr Happy' aka Adrian Woodcock was in the medals and won a bronze after playing for some 5 hours.   Credit where it's due, the tennis players worked hard for their gongs.   Mick Foster, John Barnes, George Connor and Daniel Walsh were evenly matched and I am not 100% certain who took gold, but I'll hazard a guess and go for George.  

Back to young Andy and his final in the adult category against a very good opponent, who had beaten pre games favourite Scott Cartner 6-1.    As there was no committee representative anywhere near the tennis, the competition took an unexpected twist when certain people wanted to change the rules, despite having all agreed with the guy in the yellow top  (who was in charge) before a ball had been struck in anger.

Due to the extreme heat and the time that the matches were taking, all of the players had agreed that the top player in each group would go through to the final and the two runners up would play for the bronze.   After much huffing and puffing and some good sportsmanship, that is what eventually happened.   There is always someone who will try and manipulate a situation for their own benefit but common sense prevailed and it was 'game on'.

Even then there was more controversy as the eventual winner was serving what many people thought were foot faults.   I repeat there was no committee person around and no umpire, so it was left to the players to referee themselves.   This is all very Corinthian but I have to say a final is a final and both players deserved better.

But for the good grace of everyone involved this could have boiled over, happily it did not and the young man who took the gold medal, in my opinion, was a worthy winner.  

Another quick shower and bite to eat before attending the AGM of the TSAGB, which was very well attended as a result of being held at a time when there were no competitions taking place.

Colin Mitchell, Secretary of the GB cricket team was elected to the committee as was Jean Howard-Jones.    Michelle Morrow was re-elected and Peter Ford was asked to serve for 12 months and then seek re-election after coming 4th in the ballot as another place was available for that period.   Congratulations to them all.

There were some very interesting topics brought up at the AGM and I intend to continue the debate on these pages by way of a new section which I will entitle Transplant Sport News & Issues.   Keep an eye out for this new feature, as I know a lot of you would like to contribute.

The 'Campus Street Party & Disco' was the fare for the evening and am I glad I had not paid  £10 in advance for the privilege.   We spent the night in the student bar and much was discussed about the games so far and the games to come the morrow.

Sunday 1st August

Track and field is the order of the day and some fine performances were given.   Competition was as keen as always, especially with team selection for the World Games in Canada next year up for grabs.

As I had not automatically qualified as a golfer my persona took on the guise of an athlete.   The 100m and long jump could provide me with the ticket across the pond if I performed well.   I am classed as a veteran at the British Games which I am sure you know if you have read this far, is 45-54 category.   My 50th birthday is on the 14th January, therefore when the World Games are held I will qualify as a veteran which in their system is 50-59.   So if I could run sub 14 seconds somewhere near my pb of 13.6 (achieved in Dublin in June) I would be delighted.

As there had been two runners withdrawn because of injury the 100m was a straight final scheduled for 10.50am.   I began my preparations early.   I have side effects from all of my medication which include dizzy spells, so if I am not warmed up correctly I would not get halfway down the track.   I did a thorough warm up routine, and to use the buzz phrase of better athletes than me, I was focused.   Yes I know it's pathetic, but you are still reading aren't you?

I had a good sweat on and was a little nervous as the race approached.   I never looked at my opposition and did not really have a clue who else might be running against me.   We could choose our own lanes, so I bagged lane 4.

After one false start we were off, I felt good, but at the 50m mark I was conscious of another athlete in lane 1 who was running well too.   I went into the second phase but so did the guy in lane 1.   I couldn't shake him off and I knew he was shading me.   With about 15m to go I knew I was beaten and cursed to myself.   I crossed the line a very disappointed athlete, but beaten by a better man.

100m medal presentation

It turns out the guy who beat me, Barrie Laverick is a former World champion at the distance (he won in Sydney '97) and also won in 2002 in Loughborough.   His time was 13.2 secs which is fantastic.   My time was 13.7 secs which I am more than happy about.   If I had been offered that time before the race, I would have taken it without hesitation.   Barrie works for Athletics' Weekly and is on the track three times a week, he is a class athlete.   He went on to win the 200m / 400m / High jump and beat me into 2nd place in the long jump.   Winning 5 gold medals in all he won the Novartis award for the best athlete at the games.   Need I say more?   Yes I think I should - well done Barrie.

The parade of athletes was held at 1.30pm and all competitors marched behind their respective banner around the track and received a terrific reception from the large crowd.   As always it is a very moving experience.   Some juvenile behaviour by some competitors throwing water at each other and playing chasey spoilt it a little (for me anyway).   I just think there is a time and a place for everything and high jinks at the athlete's parade, just before the national anthem, is not one them.   Am I a bit of a fudddy duddy or what?   I don't think so.  

Paul Savage and  Derek Riley both won medals as did Rob Hodgkiss from the Freeman in track and field so well done those three.   As I said earlier,  Bernard Grainger won the shot putt and was our only gold medal winner in track or field.   An excellent performance by the big man.  

Bernard Grainger with silver medallist Brian Witham from Harefield.

I would also like to offer my congratulations to Martin Graham.   Martin lives not too far from me, but as he has had a kidney transplant is not part of the Freeman team.   I know he won other medals too, but his crowning glory was the gold medal for the 400m in his first games.   Great stuff Martin, well done.

The only event remaining was the 4x100m relay.   I had entered but was the only one from the Freeman to do so.   An 'odds & sods' team was cobbled together with like minded souls and we took our place on the track.   I always thought Pearl was a singer, but she is in fact a runner.   Pearl Cameron from the Bravehearts led off and I took the baton from her some 70 yards behind the rest of the runners.   If I say so myself I ran a good leg and covered the 120m in great style, handing over to Andy Knox (our adopted tennis player) who also ran a good leg.   We had passed all but the leading three teams and Paul Brennan from Wythenshawe put in a fantastic effort down the back straight and we finished a very close fourth.   Or so we thought.

Whilst watching the medal presentations at the end I was called to the referee's room and told we had been awarded 3rd place and the bronze medal because the winners had used a runner who had already competed in 5 events and was therefore disqualified.    Paul and Pearl had already left the arena and when we gave them their medals later on, they were positively chuffed.                       Andy Knox and I pictured with the 4 x 100m relay medals.

At the award ceremony at the gala dinner Paul won one of the major trophies, and I daresay the bronze medal won so unexpectedly tipped the scales in his favour.   To coin a 'scouse' phrase, he was made up.

The Gala Dinner

Personally I thought it was good and the speeches and other formalities were just of the right length.   At the conclusion we all transferred to the student union bar (again) and danced the night away to a fantastic live band.   As is customary at  midnight all competitors and supporters alike held hands and sang 'You'll never walk alone'.   It is a very special song and has become our anthem to finish off the Games.    I think we all shed a little tear and think of Ross Taylor, our late  and much loved former chairman, at this moment.         
Beverley / Martin / David Robinson / Christine / Rob Hodgkiss.

In summary - These Games were not perfect, they never can be.  

I would like to finish on a positive note and say

If you have a special photo, please send it to me and I will use it.
Don't forget to go to the 'Guest book' with your comments/views.

 Sportspark  
Provides details of the fantastic facilities at the UEA.

  Costessey Park Golf Club was the venue for the golf tournament.   I can recommend a visit if you play golf, the course is great fun to play and does not favour the big hitters.

Games Office Contact Details:

Lynne Jones / Louise Betts

Sportspark

University of East Anglia, Norwich, Norfolk.   NR4 7TJ.

Tel: 01603 592399   Fax: 01603 592399

Email: norwich2004@uea.ac.uk 

The 2005 British Transplant Games are returning to Loughborough.
The dates are 25th August - 28th August

I shall set up a dedicated page early in 2005.