What a load of Bull!

What a load of bull!

Alan Bosworth not only scored a bullseye but went on to win the senior males darts competition at the Rotary District 1070 Disability Games 2026. Alan beat Carl Weininger in the final in the knockout competition. Because Carl uses a wheelchair, his dartboard was set lower than the one used by Alan.

The senior females final was won by Emma Tarpey, who beat Stephanie Mason.

The final for juniors was won by Arabella Shaw, who beat Vihan Vinodrai in the final.

Alan received his trophy from Bradgate Rotary president Nicki Little, as did Arabella.  Emma received hers from ex-Tigers and England rugby player Rory Underwood, who had been an RAF officer and who has recently become Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Leicestershire.

The darts competition was run by members of Bradgate Rotary. It was one of 10 sports including swimming, archery, boccia, basketball hoop shooting, kurling, rowing machine challenge, weightlifting and wheelchair racing. About 140 individuals from across the East Midlands registered, with many taking part in several events. In the darts, there were 29 senior males, nine females and six juniors.

All the events were held at Ratcliffe College, Ratcliffe on the Wreake, between 10am and 4pm on Sunday, April 12. It was the third year running that it was held there. In previous years it has been held at Lincoln Christ’s Hospital School and Stamford School. The next games will be held at Northampton School For Boys on Sunday, April 18, 2027.

Rotary thanks college Headmaster Joe Reddin and Alisha Darby, the college’s events co-ordinator, who for the last three years has done so much to enable the games to be held at the college.

Bradgate president Nicki said she was delighted to be back at the games and to see so many people meet again – some have been competing since 2018 – for friendly competition but mainly having fun.
 

In the adjoining sports hall Broadgate member Cees Valk ran a throwball event in which people threw Velcro-coated tennis balls against a giant inflatable 'dartboard'. Fortunately, at 6ft 4ins, Cees was able to retrieve the ball from the 'Double Top' for competitor Kane.

125 competitors, 100 volunteers

After the event, Bradgate members received these salient statistics from Leicester De Montfort Rotary member Chris Trivett (husband of our treasurer Lesley) who had played a big part in organising the whole event, along with Richard Power, of the Rotary Club of Leicester.

Chris wrote: "We had 125 competitors take part on the day, getting involved in over 400 discrete activities.  The competitors were drawn from 17 organisations arriving from destinations including Leicester, Lincoln, Lutterworth, Melton, Northampton, Nottingham, Oakham, Peterborough, Ramsey, Sleaford, Spilsby and Sutton on Sea.  These participants were each supported by enthusiastic carers, parents, siblings, friends and of course, their teammates.

The 11 sports activities and on-site administration tasks were each assigned to 11 Rotary clubs that organised separate sub-teams of Rotarians, partners and friends to ensure each aspect ran smoothly.  These, together with the other individual volunteers made up our 100-strong workforce.