News / Wheelchair users to take on Hams o’ Roe for Ability Shetland
TWO WHEELCHAIR users are set to tackle one of Shetland’s most notoriously tricky treks to raise money for the charity they say got them back outdoors again.
Lou Jackson and Laurence Hunter will take on the 10km Hams o’ Roe circuit this Saturday in aid of Ability Shetland, which has helped the pair form the new wheelchair basketball team Shetland Ravens.
Neither of the pair have any prior experience of such lengthy endurance tests, but Jackson said they were eager to help Ability Shetland in their quest to buy more active wheelchairs any way possible.
Jackson was paralysed in her leg after having a back operation, while Hunter had a spinal stroke. She told Shetland News they would “both be stuck indoors” if it were not for Ability Shetland, which encouraged them to try out different sports.
“Ability Shetland has given me and Laurence so much more than they actually realise,” she said.
The charity started a wheelchair basketball team which they encouraged Hunter and Jackson to train with, but she said they did not initially feel it was a fit for them.
“They started a basketball team but it was more for the less able.
“We’re more sort of competitive, and we needed some more competition, so that’s why we started the Shetland Ravens.”
The recently formed Ravens side is actually available to everyone, with players including nurses from the Gilbert Bain Hospital and some that play rugby for Shetland.
Ability Shetland has not only backed the formation of Shetland Ravens, but has paid for their courts at Clickimin and provided active wheelchairs for players to use.
Jackson said it was the charity’s commitment to helping the team – which hopes more local teams will also sign up to form a league – that had inspired their fundraising effort this week.
She said her and Hunter “enjoyed the outdoors” when they were able bodied, and had decided to test themselves outside after wheelchair basketball gave them both a renewed sense of enjoyment around sport.
They have been training on the tracks around the Viking windfarm turbines ahead of Saturday’s mammoth Hams journey, and Jackson said it had been “quite hard” so far.
“I’ve never done any off-road stuff, so inclines and different tracks like that have been hard,” she told Shetland News.
Charles Gear, who started the Ravens with them, has also been their trainer in the lead-up to the challenge.
Jackson said he had been a “great asset” to their training, and hoped to do parts of the challenge in an all-terrain wheelchair if the weather is good.
As well as the tough training, Jackson and Hunter have had a serious brush with Shetland’s most deadly insect too.
“We did Voe last week, and did the turbine at the Lang Kames. We were just eaten alive by midges, but we wouldn’t give up until we got to the next turbine.
“It was a 11 degree uphill gradient and the midges were just horrific!
“We did it, but the two of us have just been covered with midge bites. I think you could do dot-to-dot on my face.”
Jackson said the pair have a real “determination that they will do it” this Saturday.
And while they will be cheered on by friends, family and Ability Shetland supporters, Jackson said they had made it abundantly clear they did not want any help on the day.
“We’re very stubborn that we don’t want to be pushed,” she said.
“We want to do it for ourselves.”
She added they would rather pull themselves up any hills on their backsides than having people push their wheelchairs for them.
The pair will set off at 10am on Saturday morning, and she said they “really have no idea” how long it will take to complete.
“It’ll just take however long It’s going to take,” Jackson said.
“Hopefully we’ll be back before it’s dark!”
And she is adamant that this will be “the first of many” challenges for her and Hunter as they look to raise plenty of money for Ability Shetland – having already surpassed their £1,000 target for this challenge.
“Uyea is the next one,” she said.
“Fethaland is on our list too.”
You can donate to the fundraiser by following this link.
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