Newsletter October 2014
Providing multi-sport competitions for young disabled people since 1999.    
One of the 4,000 disabled young people who took part last year.

A record breaking year!

 

Panathlon enjoyed a record breaking year in 2013/14, with over 4,000 young disabled people competing in 20 counties across the country. Over 400 schools were involved in 84 competitions, 57 training days and 47 primary-aged activities, resulting in over 35,000 hours of active participation.  

 

We are particularly proud of 997 Young Leaders trained and deployed throughout the year, 16% of whom have a learning difficulty. See here for case studies. We hope to exceed these figures this coming year with 71 competitions and 54 training days already planned across the country throughout 2014/15. See here for all our fixtures and training dates. 


Roll of Honour
County Champions 2014

 

Multisport Panathlon Challenge

Essex - Thurrock Beacon Hill School
Kent - Ashford team
Suffolk - St Edmundsbury Priory and Riverwalk Schools
London Champions - LB Harrow
London Plate - LB Redbridge
Birmingham - Wilson Stuart School
Tees Valley - Hartlepool Area Team
Hertfordshire - Breakspear School
Oxford - Fitzwaryn & Mable Pritchard Schools
Wiltshire - Swindon Uplands and Brimble Hill
Berkshire - Arbour Vale
Northamptonshire - Billing Brook and Corby Business Academy
Tyne and Wear - Keelmans Way, Sandhill & Cedars Academy Schools
Merseyside - Borough of Halton
Hampshire - Baycroft School
Cambridge - South Cambs Granta and Comberton
Surrey - Phillip Southcote School
Bucks - Milton Keynes Slaters Row and Portfields
Stoke Mandeville Grand Prix's - Billing Brook / Corby Business Academy and Addington/Stony Dean  

 

Primary Panathlon
Essex - Columbus School
Suffolk - Beacon Hill
Hertfordshire - Greenside
Oxford - Fitzwaryn School
Merseyside - Borough of Halton
Surrey - Manor Mead
Gloucestershire - Blockley School
North London - The Vale
South London - Foresters School
West London- Queensmill
East London - Porthway and Scott Wilkie Primary  

 

Swimming Panathlon
Suffolk - Priory School
Kent - Five Acre Wood
Merseyside - Borough of Halton
Birmingham - Wilson Stuart School
Tyne and Wear Under 12's - North Tyneside
Tyne and Wear Under 19's - Glendean of Durham
North London- Riverside
South London- Parkwood Hall
West London- Belvue
East London - LB Redbridge  

 

Football Cup
London - LB Hackney 

Competitors earlier in the year at Stoke Mandeville, soon to host one of our Regional Winners Finals.

Regional finals

  St Jame's Place Logo

  

In a brand new development this year, we are taking our county winners from earlier in the summer up to the next level of competition, with the introduction of new regional finals. The champions in the following Counties in 2014 will now compete in clusters, giving a new level of competitive opportunity. We have three regional finals planned so far for this year:  

 

23 Oct  East       Braintree College    Cambridge, Essex, Suffolk  

4   Nov South    Surrey Sports Park   Kent, Surrey, Berks, Hampshire  

5   Nov Central  Stoke Mandeville     Oxford, Bucks, Wiltshire, Northants

 

We will report back in the next newsletter with results and action from all three finals!

One of the Oxfordshire participants.

Oxford

 

Our final competition last school year was held on 10th July at Abingdon School. 47 competitors from six local schools all competed in Oxford's first multi-sport Panathlon. The event was a triumph, building on the success of the Primary Panathlon competition delivered in Oxford earlier in the year.

 

The joint team from Mabel Pritchard School and Fitzwaryn School took first place and were crowned Panathlon's first Oxfordshire Champions. Read in more detail about the day here.

Panathlon table cricket in action!
Howzat?

 

In 2014 Middlesex Cricket and the Chance to Shine programme delivered cricket and table cricket in eleven Panathlon schools. Middlesex Cricket Board are developing their disability player pathway, which will cater for all young people's needs and abilities, from the school playground or sports hall right through to national competition level.

 

Eight Panathlon schools joined the Learning Difficulty programme and three signed up to the Deaf Schools coaching option, with all having the opportunity at the end to compete in a competition. We thank Middlesex Cricket Board for the opportunity to work in partnership with them and we look forward to increasing participation this year.

 

Adil and Liz Johnson at the Copper Box Arena in the Olympic Park in June.

See our new film!


Adil Ghani has competed for Marjorie McClure School, part of the Bromley Team, since 2008. He has risen through the ranks over that time to captain the team and, in his last school year, made it through to the London Final held in the Copper Box Arena in the Olympic Park. Adil has now left school but comes back to coach and inspire the next generation. Watch him feature in our new film here.

Panathlon Powerchair users in action!

New Opportunities 

Panathlon is to receive just over �66,000 from the City of London Corporation's charity, the City Bridge Trust, over the next three years. The grant will be used to target specific impairment groups and engage them in a cross section of classification-specific sports such as boccia, tennis and football. The activities are helped by the use of age-specific and adapted equipment such as the VI Boccia grid and attachments to powerchairs for football and hockey. For more information please see here.

... and with their medals at the end.
Jody, Liz and Danny just before the off

London Triathlon

 

Three gold medal winning Paralympians competed for Team Panathlon at the world's biggest triathlon in London on the 2nd August. Liz Johnson, Jody Cundy MBE and Danny Crates came fifth out of 154 teams competing in the Sprint Relay, which was a fantastic effort for the three debutantes in triathlon. Channel 4 showed coverage, but you can see our extended highlights of Team Panathlon in action here. and see more photo's from the day here

Alex Brooker and three other celebrity teammates won �100,000 to split between their charities.
Well done Alex!

 

Huge thanks to Panathlon charity patron Alex Brooker, who incredibly won �25,000 for us on Saturday 20th September in a celebrity edition of The Chase on ITV1. 

Alex - veteran of the Paralympics and Channel 4's The Last Leg - managed to defeat The Chaser and secure a fantastic prize for Panathlon. This will help to create many more sporting opportunities for disabled young people in the year ahead. Thank you Alex!

Click here for the information and
booking form.
It's Race Night!

 


Panathlon are delighted to invite one and all to the Hilton London Stansted on Friday 10th October for a fun-filled night at the races!

 

  

With discount room rates, a three-course meal and some amazing prizes up for grabs in the raffle, it should be a great night! If you would like to book a place (or even a table for 10) please see more details here. All proceeds to the Panathlon charity!

Rob Richardson, Paralympian from London 2012, accepts a donation on behalf of Panathlon.
Les Mills Fund for Children

We are delighted to announce new funding from Les Mills UK - the international fitness group and creators of the World Famous Body Pump who, through their Les Mills Fund For Children (visit website), have donated �5,000 to Panathlon.

 

On 14th June, Panathlon and Team GB Sitting Volleyball Captain Rob Richardson joined the team from Les Mills at Alexandra Palace for the launch of their new fund. Their kind donation to Panathlon will go towards ensuring another 200 young disabled people receive additional sporting opportunities this year.

Panathlete to World Junior Games!

 
MIchael in Panathlon kit in March. 
Michael in his
GB kit in August.

Huge congratulations to Michael McCabe, who came second in the T54 1500m at the International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports (IWAS) World Junior Games in August.

 

Michael participated in his first wheelchair race at Panathlon as part of the Croydon team five years ago and has been competing ever since.

 

Michael is 16 and has now left school, we wish him well in the future - keep on racing!

Top Sports Photographers prepare for the off at Stoke Mandeville
On yer bike!

 

Six of the country's best sports photographers have raised �1,500 for Panathlon in a sponsored 85 mile cycle ride. The team - from Getty Images, Press Association, Reuters, Action Images and top freelancers - took on the circular route to and from Stoke Mandeville on 18 September. The money they raised will help towards a new sporting opportunity for 100 disabled children at Stoke Mandeville in 2015. Thank you from all of us for your hard work! To thank them further please text PCCR80 �3 to 70070 or visit here.

What they say... 

 

"It was one of the best experiences I've ever had in school."

"A lot of our children have never taken part in inter-school sport before."

"My daughter gets frustrated having to watch her peers doing sports she can't take part in. Panathlon has given her chance to be part of something special. Thank you."

"One of our students, who we didn't think could compete in sport, surprised us all today by taking part in wheelchair slalom and table cricket."

 See all of the great feedback we have received from across the country here.
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Thank you to all of our partners for funding our work around the country: 
   
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And special thanks to Mike Wilson CBE and John Spiers Family Trust.
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