... and my focus shifts more clearly on 2012

Last week I was out in the Czech Republic racing for Great Britain in the U23 IWAS World Championships over 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m and 5km. I've been wheelchair racing for just over a year after breaking my back 2 years ago. Although I've competed internationally many times I've never represented Great Britain at a championships so it was pretty exciting getting GB kit for the 1st time and travelling to Prague as a team (with Channel 4 in tow).

The BA staff literally made us feel like royalty – they were so friendly and totally unfazed by 18 junior athletes descending on them with racing chairs, throwing frames, javelins and ridiculously heavy suitcases filled with protein shakes and shot puts. Not to mention the hoards of tearful parents sending off the U16s. From the moment we all gathered in Terminal 5 the atmosphere was fantastic, and by the time we'd finished lunch I felt more bonded with the GB athletics team than I did playing uni lacrosse with my best friends for 2 years! Definitely a good start to the trip.

What a trip it turned out to be. We won 14 medals on the first day, ending on a total tally of 43 medals at the close of the competition. This meant that although we only took an athletics team, we finished third in the overall medals table across all sports. Not bad for a team mainly made up of first time internationals.

On the starting line:

I'm sure a lot of it was down to our strict curfew that the other nations found hilarious, and of course the giant crepe paper GB flag we made in a Blue Peter moment one evening that once attached to the army tents down at the track looked slightly menacing!

This was my last year racing as a junior so it felt pretty apt landing back in the UK right in time for the Paralympic '2 years to go' celebrations. It's time to move on from my U23 medals and focus on senior IPC World Championship selection on 20 September, and of course London 2012.

There are only roughly 1,100 training sessions left until the Paralympics and from 21 September this year all my international races can count as qualifiers for the 2012 Paralympics. So when I race in the Berlin marathon in just over 3 weeks time I'll not only be going for the qualifying time for the 2011 World Championships (if I've been selected on the track), but it could also count for 2012. That's pretty scary!