Hereford Harriers have been crowned Wheelchair Challenge Trophy champions following their defeat of Edinburgh Giants at the National Basketball Performance Centre in Manchester.
The Harriers qualified as best runner up in the group stages of the tournament and celebrated a shock defeat of Sheffield Eagles in the semi-finals with their triumph in the final the cherry on top of a historic day for the team.
The West Midlands side, featuring the Wales co-captain Gary Preece and experienced Wales player turned head coach Alan Caron trailed 6-8 at one point in their semi-final, but overturned the gap to knock Sheffield out, before beating the Giants in a golden-point final.
Edinburgh topped their group - which included a win against eventual champions Hereford – before beating four-time winners Gravesend Dynamite to progress to the final. Whilst the side didn’t go home with any silverware, their displays throughout the tournament mark just how far the team have come in a short space of time having only launched one year ago.
15 teams from England, Scotland and Wales competed on the day with other notable performances including Gravesend not conceding a single point throughout the group stage and Sheffield defeating 2023 championship winners North Wales Crusaders.
Following a restructure of the Betfred Wheelchair Challenge Cup at the beginning of this season, both Hereford and Edinburgh have now qualified for the quarter finals of that competition which takes place this weekend (April 27/28).
