Winter sprint training in Aberdeen is a challenge which most would find daunting. But Neil Fachie has overcome it dramatically.

WINTER sprint training in Aberdeen is a challenge which most would find daunting. But Neil Fachie has overcome it dramatically. In fact he and fellow Scottish sprinter Libby Clegg, both of whom are visually impaired, have reached a global standard which no Scottish able-bodied competitor has matched in over a decade.

Fachie, pictured below, and Clegg are both with the British Paralympic team in Beijing where the Games open tomorrow, and will contest the 100m and 200m next week. The last Scottish sprinter in either event at the Olympics was Ian Mackie, in 1996.

Fachie's coach, Eddie McKenna, is with the team in China. He's taken time off his day job as minister of Kincorth church in Aberdeen. Being on the GB Paralympic squad is something that must have seemed impossible as he grew up in Innerleithen, figuratively on the wrong side of the athletics tracks as a Border ped with iconic coach Charlie Russell.

The coaching skill has been passed on, and when Eddie began looking after Fachie he was confronted with a problem. Training in winter in Aberdeen means working in the dark, and Neil's visual impairment, though not total, makes it very difficult in the dark or bad visibility.

They experimented with a strip of lights along the lines on the track, making training in all weathers much easier.

From Bridge of Don, Fachie suffers from retinitis pigmentosa, but can see well enough to run on his own, but Clegg needs a guide. Rules for guides are strict. Get ahead of the athlete at the finish, and they are disqualified. Libby, from Newcastleton, lost world 100m silver two years ago, but took silver in the 200m.

Fachie has concentrated full time on sprinting since graduating in physics from Aberdeen University two years past May. "There's a loss of central and peripheral vision," he said from his Beijing training base this week. "I can see the line ahead, but there's loss of vision below. The bend in the 200 was difficult at first, and I was disqualified in quite a few races.

"I ran for Aberdeen Athletics Club for years, and just about got by. I didn't realise my poor vision was acute enough to do Paralympic sport."

Studies were a problem. "I'd always difficulty seeing the blackboard, and struggled with theoretical stuff. I didn't enjoy lessons and was more practical."

Former Olympic 100m champion Allan Wells mentors him. They are in phone and email contact. "First thing he did was get me a pair of spikes that fit my feet, rather than a pair I just liked the look of."

Sixth in the world championships, Fachie is "quietly optimistic", but says there's little to choose between about 10 athletes .

Clegg, who is 18, has a degenerative condition called Stargardt's Disease. Her brothers, James and Stephen, who are part of a seven-strong family group in Beijing, are also affected. Both are outstanding swimmers, and mum, Moira, travels hundreds of miles a week taking them round sport and training venues.

Last year, one of the boys managed to set the house on fire when he threw a faulty cigarette lighter from a window. He thought it had landed safely in the garden but it set the roof on fire.

Libby, who has just completed studies at the Royal Blind Asylum in Edinburgh, says: "Sport has given me confidence and made me much more independent. I'm looking forward to travelling on my own more, and giving my mum a break."

n THE funeral of Bob Mitchell, MBE, founding member of the Scottish Sports Association for the Disabled, and former chair of Scottish Disability Sport, will take place at North Dalnottar Crematorium, Clydebank, on Monday at 11.30am.