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We Helped Haseeb Out of the Blocks in Beijing
September 2011
We recently supported a blind triathlete from Leicester who travelled to Beijing to compete in the Paratriathlon World Championship Grand Final and returned home with a silver medal.
41-year old Haseeb Ahmad, from Oadby, was a member of Team GB which travelled out to the Chinese capital for the climax of the Paratriathlon World Championship Series on 9th September.
He competed in all three events; a 750m swim, a 20km cycle ride and a 5km run with the aid of his guide, Duncan Shea-Simonds. Haseeb finished second in his category (TRI-6 for visually impaired/legally blind athletes) after posting a time of 1 hour, 12 minutes and 16 seconds, earning himself a silver medal.
Our donation of £500 went towards the cost of equipment, physiotherapy, food and sports drinks during the event.
Haseeb comments, “I was very pleased with my efforts in Beijing and although I didn’t come back with a gold medal it was my best ever result. I’d like to thank Newby Castleman for their kind donation which was used to help fund the various pieces of equipment I required to be able to compete in China.
I first became aware of the firm’s interest in sponsorship through their IT Manager, Tony Hyde, who also attends my church and I owe a great debt of gratitude to him and everyone at Newby Castleman for their backing. It’s really encouraging that a local Leicester firm stepped in to support me.”
Stephen Castleman, Partner, comments, “Haseeb’s story is inspirational and one that should really make each and every one of us take a long hard look at our own physical fitness. For him to compete in one event would be wonderful but a whole triathlon is simply inspiring. Here at Newby Castleman we like to lead the way personally and we were therefore very proud to support Haseeb and congratulate him on his silver medal in Beijing.”
Despite running for a number of years, Haseeb’s first triathlon was in 2008 and he has enjoyed great success since. He struck gold in May this year at the British Paratriathlete championships held at Holme Pierrepont in Nottingham and then had to settle for silver in the elite International Paratriathlon in Hyde Park earlier this month after finishing just 0.01 seconds behind the winner. Further information about Haseeb can be found on his blog at http://haseebtriathlon.webs.com/.
Haseeb’s times in Beijing were as follows:
750k swim: 14 mins & 38 seconds
20km bike ride: 37 minutes & 21 seconds
5km run: 18 minutes & 8 seconds
Total Time (includes time between each of the three events): 1 hour, 12 minutes & 16 seconds.