Paralympics Beijing 18th Sept 08

Well its my last day People and we make the long trip home tomorrow. Its Thursday 18th and tomorrow would have been Kieran's 50th birthday and Happy Birthday Jan from Jumpingaround.com. I have had a grand week, the paralymic village is that big it took me a few days to get my bearings. I made to the food hall, I found the shops (with no trouble whatsoever!!) and I even managed to get to the pub for a night out on Tuesday. I made it home at 6am Wednesday morning with Fintan and Cathal, (the taxi driver took us on a tour of China before getting us back to the village). I didn't quite make it to bed but had a shower at 9.30 and at 11 I met up with Mic and Brendan and we headed off to the silk market for the day and we had a grate laugh and I spent all my money (once more!). We got back about 4 and got ready for the closing ceremony. Well what an evening I have never experienced anything like it. It was out of this world. We got back about 11. I had dinner and went looking for Singapore to say goodbye which I duly did and finally got to bed about 2am.

Today, I just packed and did some last bits of shopping and became the transport manager (as the village is so big some are struggling to get around in wheelchairs so I am pulling them with my buggy). Thank god for the buggy I would have been very isolated without it as its such a distance to get anywhere.

Well this is the end of my LITTLE adventure, words cannot describe my emotions, the highs and lows, the laughter the tears, its all been class.

Thanks a million to all of you for your messages and phone calls and emails. Your support is what made my dream come true and I will be forever grateful for that. I have had an unforgetable, brilliant, class, superb (had to throw that word in for Paul and Niall), (and any other good word you can think of) time.

THANK YOU

ALL OUR LOVE

EILISH AND YOURI

Paralympics Beijijng Monday 15th Sept

Hello Everybody, sorry for the delay in writing, time ran away with me in Hong Kong. I was a bit upset after writing my last blog but I took it easy the day after ie Tuesday the 9th, I rode Youri around 7pm the night before my freestyle and he was pretty tough work and he spooked and bolted on my a few times and started bucking every time I tried to get him up in front of me but he ended up going well. Niall headed back to the hotel and Paul and I stayed at the stables and had a bit of craic with Finland and South Africa and England. Mum and Dad and Kelly and the gang went to Ocean World for the day. We also found out after a meeting that morning that I would be competing at 10am the next day and originally we were supposed to be on at night. I had bought 8 tickets for the night time and so at 9pm Aron rang and we had to run around looking for tickets for the morning competition. Treamy our helper said she would pick up the tickets and get them to Mum and Dad in time. I also bought tickets for them to go into the Federation tent where I could meet up with them and they could get out of the sun.

Wednesday - 10th September - We got to the stables at 8am, Niall warmed him up and I got on at half nine. It was that hot that we decided to warm up in the indoor and spend as little time as possible in the heat. Just before I went into the arena Paul poured a bottle of cold water down my back. Youri started to back off on me and I had to smack him to get him to walk. He was up tight but the music fitted him well and I rode my heart out and he didn't give me an inch and we ended up with 65% and placed 8th out of a class of 18. So all in all a good day, I met up with Mum and Dad and Shannon and Zoe and Aron and Leon and Grainne and had a cry (I thing it was relief that the pressure was off!). We had a few hours together and they headed off. Paul and I spent the afternoon having a few beers and chatting. Paul fed Youri and we had a water fight and then went to see the grade 4's competing and the prise giving. A big congrats to Phillipa from South Africa who won gold, you were both amazing. We met up with Nick (the lady who ran the Federation tent) and Grainne Willis(an amazing Irish lady who climbed mount everest and who is currently working for the Hong Kong Jockey Club) we have been having great laughts with them). I finally got back to the hotel about 2.

Thursday - 11th Sept - I went and did a bit of shopping in the morning and at 2 I picked up Paul and Niall and Nick from the stables and we went to Beas River Country Club. The gang from South Africa and Ireland (including my family) were invited and we had a lovely lunch and a grand tour, and saw where the eventers competed at the Olympics. A huge thanks to Nick for being so kind and great company. We got back to the stables and sorted Youri out and Paul had just started packing for the journey home. Treamy rang to say I had to go to the 5th floor and get my prize and I didn't understand what she meant so I went along and I was presented with a certificate and a rosette and a plack for Youris stable (apparently prizes went to 9th place) so that was a cool surprise. Treamy and I went to Mum and Dads hotel with some of my luggage which they said they would bring home and we brought over my prieses to show off!! It was the last night of competition and so I headed back to the stables and I was just in time to see the medal ceremonies and I couldnt stop crying and every time I looked at Nick she was crying too!! Afterwards we all headed to the media hotel and danced the night away and we had a great time. I lost Paul and Niall somewhere along the way and finally made it back to the hotel around 7am. My lovely pal Orti from Finland and some Chinese friends walked back to the hotel with me and my little scooter and we had some fun.

Friday - 12th Sept - We were supposed to go to a farewell lunch which Niall and Paul and I all missed!! Paul met up with us at the hotel and we went shopping for the afternoon. We went for a pizza and met up with Treamy and headed for the Peak. We had a great evening and the view of Hong Kong from the Peak was out of this world.

Saturday 13th - All Youris luggage was collected at 10.30. Niall and I met up with Treamy and Lewis and went to the stables to collect Paul and Lewis took us off to a little fishing village and we had a walk around and then went for lunch. The chef came out to take pictures when they heard we were here for the Paralypmics!! We got back to the stables around 3.30 and let Youri out for a final run around and at 5.30 the trailers started to arrive to take them to the airport. We all waited to see him off. Once Harvey got on the trailer Youri was mad to get on with him and loaded fine. It was near 7 before Niall and I got back to the hotel and we and for dinner with Lianne from Holland, and Omer and Dror from Isreal. Niall and I got back to the hotel at 8.30 had a quick shower and back out to a party at Grainnes house. We stayed for a few hours chatted to some good people.

Sunday 14th - I was dragged out of bed at 5.30 am to get to the airport to catch a flight to Beijing most of the athletes were heading in the same direction. We flew with Chinese Air and all the athletes got to go first class which was exciting. We got to the village about 3 and I got my room and had a chat with some of the guys and then had a shower and Kathleen and Alan got me and my scooter to the workshop to get fixed again!! We then watched our swimmer Darren from Gorey win a sliver medal at the tender age of 14!! WELL DONE DARREN. I went for some dinner and then met up with my pals from Singapore and spent the evening with them.

The Paralympic village is huge and swarming with bodies from all nations, I am sharing a room with Liz the swimming coach, its just all so different from Hong Kong and I miss home and I am a bit lost now!! Paul went home with Youri, Niall went home to work. Today I had a lie in and made my way to the laundry and got to the post office and went for luch with liz and here I am at the computer finally catching up. We have a night out at the Irish Embassy tonight and tomorrow I hope to get some shopping done and we are all going to the birds next to watch John compete. So thanks again to all for your great messages, cant wait to get home now and see you all. Get Well soon Denise.

Paralympics Hong Kong 2008 Day 9 and 10

Hi All, yesterday was a quiet one, I went swimming in the morning and slept in the afternoon and Niall and I headed for the stables at 5.30. We rode and then watched some of the grade 1B's and then we went for some food. We Then went to watch the grade 4's.

This morning ie day 10 I was on at 9.13. We were at the stables by 7 and Dad and Mum and the gang were already seated and having a great time. Niall rode first and then I warmed up and Youri was really good. When we went into the arena he got really tense on me. We ended up with 62% and placed 11 out of 18 and I was very disappointed. Niall said I rode really well and I did try my best but Youri was on and off the contact the whole time and it felt awful. When leaving the arena I saw Mum and Dad and all in the crowd and I waved and blew them and kiss and got great cheers. After I got off, I was interviewed and then cooled off and went to meet my clan. They were great with me.

I was so upset and so not a good day today, will have to scrape my heart off the floor and get ready to go again on Wednesday night, we have no times yet. Thanks to Tiff and all who sent wonderful messages luv Eilish x

Paralympics Hong Kong - Day 9

Hello, thanks Charlie for your messages, I will let Dad know, thanks Ka for your message and good luck with your competition. For anyone calling I am unable to access my mailbox and no numbers are coming up so sorry for not returning any calls. Thanks to Paddy, Gemma, Zara, Jack and Drew for all your messages. Well I was up at 8.30 and about 10 I headed over to Langham Place Hotel in Monkok to see Mum, Dad and all the gang, they are in good form. I met Mum and then went to the pool to meet the other and then Kelly and Leon and I headed down to the lobby and met Dad and we went for coffee and then to the big shopping mal where we met up with the rest of the gang. I headed back to the village at 2.30 and had a kip and then got ready for the opening ceremony. We were all gathered in the lobby and I had left my buggy outside and when I went to get it it was gone. I looked in the lobby and found it but it wouldn't go. I was getting a bit upset cause I knew I wouldn't be able to stand for the evening but the wheelchair I was using before was still at the hotel and so I was thankfully able to use that. We got to the racecourse at 6 and our parade was in alphabetical order chinese style and that left us 2nd last in. It was a great evening and Hong Kong should be proud of the show they put on, and we got to watch the opening ceremony from Beijing, and we saw Ireland. We also supported Isreal and Singapore. We got back to the hotel about 11 and had a snack and chatted to Omer from Isreal and Keith from the USA.

Paralympics Hong Kong 2008 Day 8

Well Lads and Laddettes(if there is such a thing)!! I had the best day ever. I got the bubble to the stables at 9am and was in time for the trot up, Youri passed with flying colours and he looked the bis and he behaved impecably. The Danish man grade 4 had to represent and the Chinese grade 2 and the the British grade 1 had also to represent but they all passed in the end and there was big cheers for all. In flying over the horses that suffered most were the Canadian ones and they ended up in trouble but we are all hoping that they will make it. I went back to the hotel and met up with Lewis our minder and he took Omer from Isreal and I to get my new jacket, Omer wanted to be measured but they said that they could only do ladies jackets. We went back to the hotel and I had a sleep and woke up to the sound of a message and it was from Niall saying I was on at 5pm for my warm up test, I kinda looked again an realised as the competition started at 5 it meant I was on 1st (Oh shit). Well I thought at least I would be able to say I was first in something!!!!! Can you imagine I am the 1st Paralympian to trot up the center line in competition! Youri was a star we had a few glitches but he was my man, he was out in front of me he was forward, I sat back probably for the 1st time ever and said this is it take your time and enjoy and thats what I did to the best of my ability. We ended up with 64.95% and came 2nd, Felicity from GB came 1st on 67%. We watched our counterparts Singapore compete in grade 1A just after 6pm and at the end of her test, Lauren was placed in 1st place with over 70.1%, we didnt see the end so we don't know what the final score was. Niall and I came back to the village, had a shower and went to the Langham Place Hotel to meet all my family who had just arrived, Treeney our helper met them at the airport and sorted them out, it was great to see them and my Dad whom I thought would be brought off the plane in a body bag as it was only his second time flying and he is now in his 70's, but he looked great. I have Mum(Nora), Dad (Peadar), Kelly, Aron, Leon, Shanon, Zoe, Grainne here and they are the business. Mum bought loads of flags and pins we can dish out and they are in great form. Niall and I had dinner with them and got back to the hotel about 12. My final comments are Youri is my Hero, Niall and Paul made it all possible and thanks to my gang for believing in both of us. Talk to you tomorrow, Luv Eils

Same day 8

Just to let you know our trot up is at 9.40am and we are competing sometime after 5pm tomorrow night. 8 of my family arrive tomorrow night which is very exciting. Thanks to John Tynan and Cathie Clifford for your text messages. Hello to Nan and Gill and Denise, thinking of you.

Paralympics Hong Kong 2008 Day 8

Hello, well the day was another good one. I didn't sleep last night so thankfully there was nothing to essential to do this morning so I had a lie in, I listened to my tapes and fell asleep and had a pretty relaxing morning. I got to the stables just after 2pm and met up with Nancy, who gave me and Paul and Niall a card signed by the rest of the team from Beijing, it made my day thanks a million everyone it was very much appreciated. I hear the block your in, in Beijing has very little external decor in terms of flags and bunting!!!!!!!!!! Dont worry I rang home and Mum and Dad will bring a flag or two!!!! Hope I get to see the boys and their tongs too!!!! Anyway back to reality, we went and did a sound check at 3.55pm, we had to put the sound up quite a bit but it sounded good in the end we hope!! Youri then had physio and we got ready to ride. Youri was a bit dead today but still good at the end of the training session we got 5 mins in the field of play and I managed to ride my team test. I wore my Irish jacket to see if I could cope with the heat and its ok till you get to the end of your test and then the heat hits you and its awful. I got to the misting tent and stuck my hands in ice cold water to cool down. Youri is just getting used to being sprayed with ice cold water and I thing he quiet likes it now. Youri got a wash and then around 8 we all had to gather in the grass arena with horse in hand and lead them round the field of play with the torch lit so it was exciting to see all the horses together and they were all great. Youri got another compliment today, we were told he was the best looking horse here, unfortunately they didn't say the same about his mother!!!!

Paralympics Hong Kong day 6 and 7

Hello All, sorry for the delay in writing but had a few technical problems loging on.

Day 6 - was a good one, I was up for my ride at 8am and we went for a walk around the main arena or what they call the field of play, we got a day pass for Paul and and he came back to the hotel with us and we had a quick trip to the plaza across the road and then back to the hotel for lunch. The food isn't the best at the stables and so Paul made the most of his lunch. We then all piled into my room to get changed and get dressed up to meet the major of the village. We wore our ceramonial outfits and at 15.45 we met the lovely mayor and drank jasmin tea and had a chat and we got presents and had our pictures taken. We headed back to the stables as we were on at 6pm. We were in the indoor tonight and Niall rode and I rode, Youri was in great form. We share our training times with Omer and Dror from Isreal and their groom Lianne and we have great fun with them. We stayed on till about 10 with Paul and had good fun with the South Africans and the stewards. Of the team of stewards we have Gill (who broke Liza's horse Fantastic Elastic), Louise and Paul and Philip. They have been so good and so keen to help out and look after us they are great people. Niall and I headed back to the hotel and had some dinner and Isreal came to join us. Isreal have nobody coming to support them so we have offered to fly their flag for them.

Day 7, We headed for the stables at 8 and I got to go for a hack on the gallops which was fun. Niall and Paul and I got back to the hotel just before 11 and they went shopping across the road and I went off with the South Africans to Stanley market we had about an hour or so there and we got back about 3 and I went to the shopping centre and then Niall and I headed for the stables at 5.30. We rode in the outdoor arena tonight and Youri was good again. The Swiss trainer stopped me to compliment me on my riding and how much we have improved which was cool. We had to make our way back to the hotel and we met up with Nancy who is Technical Director of the Paralymic Council of Ireland. I looked around the lobby of the hotel and there was my scooter waiting for me which was great. We all had showers and headed for dinner and met up with Isreal and GB and Sinapore.

Paralympics Hong Kong 2008 day 5

Hi, Greetings to Jan, Ka, Verner, Ali and all your gang, great to hear from you, also greetings to Gerry, Mark, Aaron, Anne Marie and Darren and may we all be in London in 2012.YEAAAAAAAAA Hello to Anna and Richard and the Kids and thanks for a great night out in Rathdrum.

Well we had another long day. I was up at 6.30am had a shower and off to the stables at 7.30 on my man by 8.15 and walked around the competition arena for 40 mins he is very chilled out and I am not sure if it is the heat or what!! Afte we rode we met up with Luis our care assistant and we finally got back to the hotel about 11.30, we or Niall had lots of forms to sort out and he had to get a day pass to the hotel for Paul and then his insulin went wrong and he had to eat. We finally headed for the shoping mall to buy tickets for my family to get into the Paralympics. I also had an order for tickets for Gabrella from Sweden. We ended up on a big buying spree and I am afraid to tell you how much I spent today. I did buy a 13.6mp dig camera so you will be able to see as much as possible when I can work out how to use the bloody thing!! Peadar if you are reading this please get mum and dad to take as many pins over as possible please as Niall and Paul and I have run out already. We got back to the hotel about 2pm and we went for a sleep till 5.50 and me supposed to get the bus back to the stables at 6!! I made it but didnt look the part. Susanne the physio was working on Youri and when we got to the stables and she said he was in pretty good shape. Tonight we got to train in the competition arena and Niall rode for 15 mins and I rode for 20 mins and Youri was a dream come true. Afterwards I was walking round the main arena on a long rein drinking my bottle of water (Adeline I hope ur reading this)!! and he spooked on me and I near fell off I dropped the bottle of water all over his neck but he didn't take off thankfully. Susanne came to watch us and she was really pleased with Youri. Afterwards we went for dinner with Paul and Caroline. Niall and I got back to the hotel about 10.30 and we had our dinner with the Brits ie Lee and Dan and Ricky and the South Africans ie Katherin and Pippa and their physio. Had a great day, wish this could happen me every day. Love to all Eilish and hello to Susan my top class physio at home