Helen gives Paralympics athlete food for thought (From Prestwich and Whitefield Guide)

Helen gives Paralympics athlete food for thought

9:52am Thursday 30th August 2012 in News

A RAMSBOTTOM woman is all set for a special journey to the London Paralympic Games.

Helen Walker, who is the nutritional therapist for Bury-based football club FC United of Manchester, will be at the Games to provide support for British athlete Graeme Ballard.

Graeme will go for gold in one of the 100metre races on Sunday.

In the run-up to the Games, Helen has been advising 33-year-old Graeme on how he can maximise his performance.

In May, Graeme, who has cerebral palsy, broke the 100m world record for his category at the Paralympic World Cup in Manchester.

Helen, aged 38, of Dundee Lane, said: “I’ve been working with Graeme for 18 months after he and his mum Barbara contacted me to see if I could help him with maintaining his body weight and to give advice on all-round nutrition to help improve his performance at events.”

She added: “Tickets for the Parlaympics are like gold dust so I was delighted when I was able to find a seat on the Olympics website to watch Graeme race.

“I can’t wait to be in the stadium watching him.

“I also have a ticket for the finals that evening so hopefully he’ll qualify for those.

“He’s done fantastically well just to make the Paralympics and all you can ask is for him to do his best.”