BRITISH champion Jason Gill is training his sights on a unique sporting double.
The experienced Ellesmere Port athlete has competed regularly in wheelchair racing over many years and is the reigning British Wheelchair Racing Association (BWRA) Grand Prix champion.
He will race in the same series this year but he also has another title to go for - in handcycling.
Many wheelchair athletes take part in the three-wheeled sport and West Cheshire AC member Gill is targeting glory in the UKHCA (United Kingdom Handcycling Association) Grand Prix.
He said: 'Nobody else has ever won two different grands prix before but this year I'm aiming for another different one, the UKHCA's grand prix, while still competing in my racing wheelchair to win the BWRA's grand prix for another year.'
Gill won last year's BWRA Grand Prix title despite missing the last race of the series due to illness.
He finished in top four positions in eight out of nine races, which included three victories, and was nine points clear of his nearest rival.
Gill, who regularly trains at the Cheshire Oaks High School athletics arena, also triumphed in the BWAA (British Wheelchair Athletics Association) Grand Prix for pentathlon two years a go.
He is keen to thank patient motorists while training on the road.
'I'd like to thank all the motorists for giving me what I hope were 'beeps of encouragement' while I was out on road training sessions. I'm sorry if I'm a bit slow going up the hills on my training routes around Ellesmere Port, Chester and Wirral, but arm power alone is a bit limiting!'
* Entries are being accepted for the Chester Spring Five-mile Road Race which will take place at Cheshire County Sports Club, Upton, Chester, on Wednesday, April 4 (7pm start).
Further details can be obtained from 33 St Peters Way, Mickle Trafford, Chester. CH2 4EJ, by enclosing a stamped addressed envelope.
