West London Panathlon Challenge Hosted at St Mary’s University

Children from 18 schools in west London recently took part in the Panathlon Challenge West Championships and Plate Title, which was held at St Mary’s University, Twickenham on Tuesday 4^th March. The annual Challenge is organised by the Panathlon Foundation, a charity which provides multi-sport competitions for more than 3,000 disabled children each year in London and the south-east. It saw 162 competitors from eight boroughs (Sutton, Merton, Hillingdon, Wandsworth, Richmond, Hounslow, Ealing and Kingston) take part in a day of tournaments including boccia, polybat, new age kurling, table cricket, field events and athletics races. The day was hosted and co-organised by Sport St Mary’s, which offers state-of-the-art sporting facilities and regularly holds events with the local community and professional sports teams. Students from the University’s School of Education, Theology and Leadership also had the opportunity to volunteer as ‘Young Officials’. It was a close run competition for both the Championship and Plate tournaments, which were won by Sutton and Merton respectively. It means that the two boroughs have earned a place in the London final, which will take place at the Olympic Park, Stratford on 18^th June. On the day Panathlon was also delighted to welcome its patron and GB wheelchair basketball players Helen Turner and Louise Sugden, who showed her support to those competing in the two tournaments and to present the winners with medals. Please visit the Panathlon website for more information.