A TULLIBODY paralympic athlete has her sights on Beijing after swapping wheelchair racing for curling.

Meggan Dawson-Farrell represented Scotland as a wheelchair racer at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

However, eight years on she has secured her status as a Paralympic athlete after deciding to switch events.

Meggan finished in seventh place in the T54 1,500m at Hampden Park in 2014.

The 29-year-old suffered a pressure sore in her leg after the Games that took her out of action for five months, steering her decision to try wheelchair curling as she recovered in 2017.

It proved to be a solid fit and she will now form part of the ParalympicsGB five-strong team set to descend on the Beijing National Aquatics Centre – this year’s wheelchair curling venue – in two months’ time.

Meggan said: “It’s incredible and I can’t wait to get out there now and compete.

“Going through school, I had nothing sport-related, and it wasn’t until later on in life I found athletics. I absolutely loved it, had a passion for it, trained 24/7 and managed to get to Glasgow 2014.

“But after my pressure sore took me out of action for five months, I started to lose myself a little bit and needed something else to focus on while I was still in recovery.

“I went along to curling, tried it out for the first time ever and fell in love. I haven’t looked back since.

“At first, I was doing a bit of both but then eventually decided it was too difficult to do the two.

“I had to make that decision as to which one I was going with, and it wasn’t a hard decision in the end.

“I prefer it – I absolutely love the team aspect and having other people to train with.”

Meggan will be joined Hugh Nibloe, Gregor Ewan, David Melrose and alternate Charlotte McKenna in the Chinese capital and, at 29, will be the youngest member of ParalympicsGB’s wheelchair curling team.

She continued: “I’m raring to go, know I’m going and now it’s just like: right, let’s get into training and get on that plane.”

Great Britain won bronze at Sochi 2014 and silver in Turin eight years earlier, but are yet to ascend the summit of the wheelchair curling podium after they were knocked out prior to the semi-finals at PyeongChang 2018.

The team will fly out to Estonia this month as they ramp up their preparations, with the games beginning on March 4.

Meggan added: “Ultimately, every athlete wants to be able to inspire the next and younger generation.

“It’s now full-on training every day – it’s a case of getting there; being as fit and healthy as I can be, and giving myself the best opportunity to do the best I can and enjoy the experience.”

Meggan's training is supported by National Lottery funding, with players helping to raise more than £30million each week for good causes including grassroots and elite sport.

For more information on the positive impact of playing the National Lottery, visit www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk or get involved by using the hashtag #TNLAthletes.