Teacher selected as Olympic and Paralympic race starter

July 31, 2012 - PRLog -- A chemistry teacher at Bromsgrove School has been selected by UK Athletics and LOCOG to be one of the four official starters at the Olympics and perform as the Chief Starter at the Paralympics.
   
Margaret Werrett, who is also a Senior Mistress and part of the school’s Senior Management Team, will be the only female in the four person Olympic team that will start races in the Olympic Stadium during the 10 days of athletics competition, which will begin this Friday, 3rd August.

Meanwhile, as Chief Starter for the Paralympics, Margaret will be responsible for allocating events to other officials to start, as well as ensuring everything runs smoothly prior to the races.

“It’s very exciting,” said 51-year-old Margaret from Droitwich. “The Olympics will be the biggest event I’ve ever been involved in. We don’t know which races we’ll be starting but I expect it to be seven or eight races each. It’s unlikely that I’ll be starting the men’s 100m final, which is the most high profile event, as that is normally done by the Chief Starter or the International Chief Starter.

“Being involved with the Olympics will be mind-blowing, however to be the Chief Starter for the Paralympics is what I’ve dreamed of since London won the games in 2005. It is a huge honour for me to chief the Paralympics as I have been involved with disability athletics since the World Disability Championships were held in Birmingham in 1998.”

Margaret is highly regarded in the world of athletics. Earlier this year her accomplishments and qualities led to UK Athletics presenting her for the 2011 European Athletics Women’s Leadership Award.

Her various other achievements include being marksman at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, a call room steward at the 2003 World Indoor Championships in Birmingham, as well as a starter at the 2007 European Indoor Championships in Birmingham. In 2011, she was one of only two non-Greek starters at the World Special Olympics in Athens.

Margaret is already looking beyond the Olympics and Paralympics as she also hopes to officiate at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, the city where she was born.

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