PACE News caught up with Grant Sheldon to find out what it’s like being a professional triathlete:
PACE News
Bringing uncovered sport into the light
Tag: uncovered sports
Ailsa Harvey
In beach volleyball, two teams of two players aim to hit the ball over the net and to the ground, while keeping the ball inside the court. The sport is very similar to regular volleyball but is played on sand.
Teams are allowed up to three touches of the ball among them before they are required to send the ball over the net. Teams continue to send the ball back and forth, and the tally ends when a team gains a point by ‘grounding’ the ball on the opposing team’s side of the net, or if the ball falls outside of the court.
Ailsa Harvey
Fleet Racing is the most common form of competitive sailing. This form of racing comes in two formats; one-design racing and handicap racing. One-design races involve boats of the same design while handicap competitions allow for different types of boats in the same race. To ensure the result is fair, the slower boats begin the race before the faster models. Alternatively, the boats are all given a rating and these ratings are used in calculating the final result instead of the time alone.
Ailsa Harvey
Wheelchair racing is a Paralympic sport, open to athletes with any qualifying type of disability: this includes amputees, spinal cord injuries, cerebral palsy or partially sighted (when combined with another disability).
There are different classifications for competition to allow athletes with differing disabilities to take part fairly in the sport. Athletes are classified depending on the nature and severity of their disability.
Ailsa Harvey
White water rafting is a team sport, involving the navigation of an inflatable raft down the fast, white water of a river. The sport can include risky areas of white water, with different rivers graded with levels of difficulty. Teamwork is essential in balancing and manoeuvring the raft, ensuring the fastest route is taken, and done so safely.
It is an extreme sport when carried out in technical rivers, and mistakes can be fatal. The classes of white water range from the lowest difficulty rating, class 1, with very small rough areas requiring slight manoeuvring to class 6. Class 6 rapids are considered so dangerous that they are ‘not navigable on a reliably safe basis’. Huge waves, large rocks and drops can be expected on these rapids and have proved extremely dangerous in comparison to the lower classes.
Ailsa Harvey
Skimboarding is a board sport which involves gliding along the water’s surface while standing on a board. A skimboard is smaller than a surfboard and has no fins.
In skimboarding competitions, competitors ride out towards the breaking waves, and turn to ride the wave back to shore. Wave-riding skimboarders perform a range of different manoeuvres on the water surface and in the air to gain points. In order to ride out to the breaking waves, the rider needs to be travelling with as much speed as possible to continue skimming in the deeper water. To do this they need to run fast on the beach before jumping onto the board.
Matthew Moffatt
This Friday and Saturday (19th-20th October), the Echo Arena in Liverpool will play host to the Stihl Timbersports World Championships. Described as “the most exciting sport you’ve never heard of”, it is the major league of lumberjack sports.
The World Championships are being held here in the UK for the very first time this month. The sport celebrates pioneer skills and has grown in popularity since the official Stihl Timbersports series was launched in 1985. It has a massive global fan-base, who follow the original extreme sport around the world. Their next stop: Liverpool.
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