More than 300 disabled athletes competed in the 23rd Rotary Disabled Sports Championships held at the Midlands Sports Centre, Coventry on Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th November. The winning team was the North West team,with 273 points. Second place was taken by the South West team with 246 points and the Rugby team came third with 233 points. The athletes competed in twelve sports events ranging from archery, basketball, darts and table tennis to swimming and weightlifting. The aim of the Championships is to promote team spirit and it is a condition of entry that each team has one boy or girl under the age of 18 years old. This was designed deliberately to encourage Disabled Sporting Clubs to encourage young athletes.
Special awards went to
and special team awards to North West, Accrington and North East.
One of the Highlights was the South West winning the Basketball, the first time they had won a basketball final.
The Championships are organized by five Rotary Clubs in Coventry and they are supported by other Rotary Clubs from many other areas. The Coventry Clubs raise £12,000 through donations and sponsorship to put the event on.
President Rotary International in Great Britain & Ireland, Gordon McInally who presented the prizes to the winning teams said ‘Rotary is only too delighted to be associated with an event such as this, which gives talented athletes the opportunity to take part in competitive sports. The essential point of these sports is the ability to take part – this is the true Olympian ideal whereby the participation is more important than the winning. I congratulate the organisers for running this event down the years, what a wonderful achievement and an example of dedicated service this is. In Rotary’s centennial year we celebrate achievement and the Rotary Disabled Games is an excellent way to do just that.’
During the coming year the organizers will aim to increase awareness of the Championships amongst those involved with Sport for the Disabled and are interested in talking to potential sponsors.
PHOTOGRAPHS AVAILABLE ON REQUEST
Issued on behalf of Peter Offer Rotary Club of Coventry Jubilee Telephone 024 7671 3334 or 024 7641 7695
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I am attaching a photo of the Rotary wheel made out of CD ROMs for the launch at Bournemouth for information, it received good coverage on Meridian TV, and to get the scale it fills a cricket pitch and is 100 metres across. An entry for a Guinness World record has been made. |
| For more information please contact Judith Diment on 01628 672965 or 07860 162313 or judithdiment@aol.com | |