Blackpool racer Shelly Woods puts courageous comeback on hold in quest for third Paralympics

Wheelchair racer Shelly Woods is staying positive and keeping her sense of perspective, despite missing out on what was to have been a massive week in her astonishing comeback.
Shelly Woods winning the Vitality Big-Half in London last monthShelly Woods winning the Vitality Big-Half in London last month
Shelly Woods winning the Vitality Big-Half in London last month
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Winner Shelly Woods targets major marathon double unless coronavirus thwarts pla...

The Blackpool 33-year-old had planned to contest both the Boston and London Marathons in the space of seven days in her bid to earn selection for the British Paralympic team for a third time.

All those events, however, have been hit by the coronavirus pandemic, with the Tokyo Games postponed until August next year.

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Woods, a triple Paralympic medallist in the T54 category for athletes with spinal injuries, returned to competitive racing only 11 months ago, having been away from the sport for three years to raise her first child, Leo.

A victorious comeback in the Great Manchester Run and the Vitality 10,000m in London was followed by second place at the Great North Run on Tyneside, an event Shelly has won seven times.

Stepping back up to her favourite marathon distance, the Blackpool Wyre and Fylde Athletics Club star competed at Berlin and New York in the autumn, then finished second in Singapore at the start of December.

Woods was a winner again last time out, at the Vitality Big Half in London on March 1, and her rapid return to the top level was recognised with selection for Great Britain and Ireland in the World Para Athletics Marathon World Cup.

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That event, in which Woods was once again to team up with David Weir in a six-strong GB&I contingent, was to be incorparated into the London Marathon, scheduled for this Sunday.

It would have been the first time double winner Woods had contested the London showpiece for four years, and the first time she had represented her country since the European Championships of 2014.

Woods told The Gazette: “It’s disappointing but some things are bigger than racing. This whole pandemic is something bigger and what’s most important right now is for people to look after themselves and each other.

“It’s disappointing after doing so much training to see these races cancelled but there will be other races.

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“I’m just like everyone else who is disappointed that the things they have worked towards are not happening right now but you just have to get on with it.

“Maybe the silver lining for me is that the Olympics and Paralympics have been postponed until next year, which gives me another 12 months to get in my best shape. You have to look at the positives.”

And Shelly is rightly positive about a comeback which has proved as successful as anyone could have expected.

“It has gone really well,” she added. “I’ve been taking each race as it comes and have been getting better each time. I continued to improve at my last marathon in Singapore, where I finished second.

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“It wasn’t easy because I didn’t have the sponsorship I had in the past and I’ve had to fit my training around working.

“But I’m lucky now to have the financial support of UHY (a global accounting firm with a base in Manchester), who have been brilliant and helped me to buy equipment.”

And that equipment is particularly vital right now, with the current lockdown hardly conducive to training for a sport such as Shelly’s.

“I can’t do any specific race training for the time being,” she explained, “but I have created a home gym and am doing a lot of workouts.”