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Edinburgh race walker faces final hurdle for Commonwealth Games selection 

HBOS

Thursday 18 April 2002

Edinburgh's Sara-Jane Cattermole intends to walk her way into the Bank of Scotland Scottish Team competing at this summer's Commonwealth Games when she joins an international line up for this Sunday's (21 April) AAA Walks Championships in Manchester.

Cattermole (26), is Scotland's sole race walker in this weekend's 20km event and if successful will also be the only Scot competing in the 20km Race Walk at the Games.

"I've put every single penny I have into this and put everything on hold for the past two years," said Cattermole this week.

"So it would mean everything to me to be selected for the team."

Sunday marks the final stage of the selection process for Race Walkers. Cattermole, who admits she was "too young and not fast enough" to make the team at the 1998 Games, twice ducked below the qualification time of 1hour 40 minutes in 2001 but needs to do so again in Sunday's race to fulfill the selection criteria for the Bank of Scotland Scottish Team.

"I'm really hoping for a good time at the weekend and I feel relaxed and fit," she added.
With 96 days to go until the start of the Games, there is still plenty of work in store for Scotland's top race walker. "At the moment I'm tapering for the trial but soon afterwards I'll be back into mileages of at least 70 a week, plus weights and high intensity track work."

Cattermole is no stranger to the hard graft of training. She has a black belt in Taekwando and began athletics aged eight - she was a promising steeple chaser and hammer thrower before she realised that her slight frame could not sustain the forces of the latter discipline.

"Of the three I never had a favourite or a strength but I started getting injuries with hammer and I felt I wasn't built for it," she said.

"I lost interest in hammer and kicked into race walking - my Mum's a judge and my Dad's always shown an interest and now he's my coach. But I still use both steeple chase and hammer at certain times of the year for cross training."

Cattermole has two training partners who she meets once a week for anything up to a straight 30km walk. And in her pursuit of perfection in what must be the loneliest of sports, she has one secret weapon.

"I'm very lucky I've got a treadmill at home, so I just put the TV or the music on and clock up the mileage that way."

Almost 1000 more miles of training will be covered before Cattermole will stand on the start line of the Manchester Games 20km Race Walk. So what does she hope to achieve?

"I guess a medal is everyone's dream," she replied. "I'd like to finish the race knowing that I couldn't have put any more into the event and the training in the months before it. I've trained so hard for it - this is everything I want at the moment."

All athletes achieving selection times for the Bank of Scotland Scottish Team and who show form in 2002 will be nominated to the Commonwealth Games Council for Scotland for ratification on 24 June.

George Mitchell, Treasurer & Managing Director of Bank of Scotland, said, "Bank of Scotland is proud to be the title sponsors of the Scottish Team who will be competing in the Commonwealth Games this summer. We hope Sara-Jane will be an integral part of the team and if her current performance continues she will definitely be one to watch. We wish her good luck in her efforts at Manchester."

  • The Commonwealth Games Council for Scotland (CGCS) is responsible for selecting and preparing the team representing Scotland at the Games and is financed through sponsorship and fundraising activities, and grant support from sportscotland.
  • The total cost of preparing and taking a team to represent Scotland at the Commonwealth Games in 2002 is around £450,000.
  • A copy of the overall team and individual sport selection policy is available from the Commonwealth Games Council for Scotland.
  • The Scottish Team won 3 Gold, 2 Silver and 7 Bronze medals at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Scotland's judo players picked up one gold, three silver and four bronze at the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland - the only time the sport has been included in the Games.
  • Scotland has competed in every Games since the first British Empire Games in 1930 winning a total of 270 medals (65 Gold, 79 Silver, 126 Bronze).
  • 16 sports are taking part in Manchester: Athletics; Badminton; Bowls; Boxing; Cycling; Gymnastics; Hockey (women's); Judo; Rugby 7s; Shooting; Squash; Swimming; Table Tennis; Triathlon; Weightlifting; and Wrestling.
  • The 2002 Commonwealth Games are being held in Manchester 25 July - 4 August.
  • In December 2000 Bank of Scotland announced its second time sponsorship of the Bank of Scotland Scottish Team for the Commonwealth Games. The Bank's sponsorship specifically funds coaching and preparation for the team to help improve our athletes' medal chances.
  • Bank of Scotland is the largest commercial sponsor of youth sport in Scotland and this year over 20,000 young people will take part in youth development projects supported by Bank of Scotland.
  • Bank of Scotland recently merged with Halifax plc to create HBOS plc. With 25million customers, 60,000 staff, 3.1m shareholders, 1,100 branches and 3,600 ATMs HBOS is the new force in banking - to find out more visit www.hbosplc.com
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