Allan Ritchie

Hometown: Aberdeen
Live: Whitecairns
Occupation: Oil Industry
Sport: Shotgun
Events: Olympic Trap
Classification Class: 1 – Seated
Personal Bests: World #1 – Class1 Seated – World Shooting Para Sport
World Record (joint) – Qual. 110/125
European Record – Qual. 110/125
European Record (joint) – Final 34/50
British Record (joint) – Qual. 112/125
Scottish Record – Qual. 112/125
Name of Club: Auchterhouse
Coach: Marco Micheli
When/how you got involved: I began shooting in 2012 on return to Aberdeen, Scotland, from working abroad for several years. I found I had a natural talent for the sport and decided I would try to represent Scotland within Home International Competition. Unfortunately, a spinal cord injury prevented me from doing so and I have been dependent upon a wheelchair since December 2014. I took up clay shooting again from my wheelchair in 2016.
In April 2017 I learned the International Paralympic Committee had approved Olympic Trap as a test sport. This has been rebranded as Para Trap, but this is a change in name only. I moved from English Skeet, DTL and ABT to Olympic Trap and drove thousands of miles around Scotland and England to train/compete and was selected as first reserve for the GB Para Trap Team for the World Championship to be held in Lonato, Italy in September 2017. The rest is a work in progress….
Sporting Highlights: I’m immensely proud to compete in a GB vest and have enjoyed some success, but the highlight for me is competing alongside the gutsiest people I have ever met. People who have faced death and hardship through illness, life changing injury, and resultant disability. It’s not stopped them; it’s made them stronger, inspirational, and I count myself lucky to call many of these extraordinary people my friend.
Sporting Goals and Aspirations: To still be around when Para Trap is formally included within the Paralympics, and to represent Great Britain.
One bit of advice for an aspiring athlete: Work hard, train hard, remain positive, remove negative, listen to your coach, rinse, repeat…..