A London Youth Games gold medallist with cerebral palsy has completed the first-ever Simplyhealth Great South Wheelchair Event.

Natasha Settelen, 18, from Twickenham, trains hard at the famous Weir Archer Academy in Kingston which provides up to Paralympic-level athletics coaching.  

She was one of just seven participants selected to take part in the new race after winning gold in the 100m wheelchair race at the London Youth Games.

Natasha said: “I really enjoyed it today. I hope there are plans for more events in the future for us to take part in."

“Events like this are important and hopefully the number of participants will increase. It would be great to get more and more people involved and for there to be more funding going into disability sports.”

The Simplyhealth Great South Wheelchair Event took place on Sunday October 22 in Southsea, Portsmouth – the same day as the Simplyhealth's famous Great South Run.

Rick Hoskins, the paralympic coach who trained all seven participants, said: “Everybody did themselves proud. Initiatives like this are so important. It’s events like these that help us find the Paralympians of the future.”

He added: “My final piece of advice to the participants was to go out and enjoy it – it’s not about a race, it’s about participating in an event and enjoying it.”

The Simplyhealth Great South Wheelchair Event was launched by Simplyhealth and The Great Run Company and forms part of Simplyhealth’s #millionsmoving campaign, which aims to encourage participation in disability sport and to get more people moving.