By: Kadija Haja Bundu<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The University of the West of Scotland (UWS) will host the final pre-competition training camp for Commonwealth Para athletes ahead of the Glasgow 2026 Games, in a move that underscores the growing institutional and economic value of elite disability sport pathways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The GAPS (Glasgow 2026 Preparation and Support) camp, running July 16-24 at UWS\u2019s Ayr campus and South Ayrshire Council\u2019s Riverside Sports Arena, will bring together roughly 35 Para powerlifting and Para athletics athletes selected from regional camps in South Africa, Australia, and the Caribbean. The programme concludes on the opening day of the Games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Commonwealth Sport Chief Executive Katie Sadleir described the camp as \u201ca powerful moment in the journey to Glasgow 2026,\u201d adding: \u201cGAPS is about creating opportunity, breaking down barriers, strengthening pathways and ensuring that athletes, no matter where they come from, can fulfil their potential.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The initiative has a measurable track record. At the Birmingham 2022 Games, eight GAPS athletes won medals, including Nigeria\u2019s Goodness Nwachukwu, who took gold in women\u2019s discus F42 with a world record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Professor James Miller, UWS Principal and Vice-Chancellor, said the university was \u201cimmensely proud to be the first Scottish university working with Commonwealth Sport to deliver the GAPS programme,\u201d noting it showcases \u201cour purpose as a placemaking, inclusive university\u201d and aligns with UN Sustainable Development Goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For host economies, pre-Games camps generate local spending, test event infrastructure, and build long-term legacy assets \u2014 a small but replicable return on sports development investment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By: Kadija Haja Bundu The University of the West of Scotland (UWS) will host the final pre-competition training camp for Commonwealth Para athletes ahead of the Glasgow 2026 Games, in a move that underscores the growing institutional and economic value of elite disability sport pathways. The GAPS (Glasgow 2026 Preparation and Support) camp, running July […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":346,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sportswriterssl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sportswriterssl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sportswriterssl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportswriterssl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportswriterssl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=345"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportswriterssl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":347,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportswriterssl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345\/revisions\/347"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportswriterssl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sportswriterssl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportswriterssl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportswriterssl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}