4. Competition begins WTG 2025

Last night was the first WTG dinner. Despite finally finding a chef to state what was supposed to be Gluten free in the buffet -( none of us spotted any mandatory EU labelling for allergens for any dish!) The incident that followed later that evening was like a scene from “The Exorcist. “

Let’s just say the World Transplant Games Federation got an email from me at 4am.😤

Was due at table tennis at 9am this morning but finally made it there at 10:30am, expecting I would be turned away. Thanks to Lisa, Junior Team Manager for Team GB , she took me under her wing and I ended up managing to play in my division, even though my first match was a walkover.

I last played Table Tennis regularly at school and then on a 3/4 size table at home with my son Dáire - so being competitive wasn’t the aim. My first opponent was Helen Tasker from Team GB- I was competitive in 2 of the games. Next opponent was Val, also Team GB ( they have 275 athletes here) and I managed to win a game, and lose another on tie break despite suffering the post gluten sweats. The last opponent in my group 1 league was Gabrielle Szabò, a Hungarian silver medalist in previous WTGames. The ball was whizzing past my ear, bouncing and skidding sideways, the laws of physics definitely at play. That I scored points in every game was a blessing. 😊 My bat was apparently illegal -when they asked me where I got it- don’t think the chest of drawers in my son’s bedroom was the answer they were expecting.

Thankfully the Irish 🇮🇪 runners are a hardy and fast bunch so I am delighted to share some videos and photos from their successful 5k runs this morning as well as a couple of interviews from the athletes- courtesy of roving reporter Emma. Athletes run in their respective age /gender divisions .
Also serial WTG medalist Marie O’Connor took bronze in the Pétanque.

Golf singles tomorrow - 🤞

💕Pam

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