Lakeside Shopping Centre has donated £500 of sports equipment and coaching to Columbus College in Chelmsford, enabling many hours of extra sport for its disabled young students.

Columbus College who participated in the Panathlon Challenge, a mini-paralympic style sports event, will use the funds to generate many hours of extra sport this summer for their Panathlon team. Columbus recently took part in the Panathlon competition held at Riverside Sports centre in Chelmsford against three other Essex special schools, from Loughton, Thurrock and Wickford.

Columbus College Chelmsford Team

Thanks to Lakeside’s funding and Panathlon’s support Columbus College have set up a weekly sports club and they are holding a Panathlon Sports Day in July, allowing over 100 students to benefit. Emma Reeve, Head of Learning (PE & Sport) at Columbus College said, “Many thanks to Lakeside for this kind donation. We are delighted they are sponsoring the Panathlon charity which has given our students a great sporting competition.”

The Panathlon Challenge charity (www.panathlon.com) provides free sports equipment, coaching sessions and competitions across Essex and is supported by Lakeside Shopping Centre with a grant of £3,000 this year. Sophie Scott, Marketing Manager at Lakeside said, “We are delighted to be supporting the Panathlon Challenge again this year, helping young disabled people in Essex benefit from our investment in sports equipment and competitions.”

The Panathlon Challenge is now in its tenth successful year of delivering sporting opportunities and “mini-paralympic” type competitions for young disabled sports people and around 125 athletes aged between 8 and 18, will compete against each other each day. The event goes ahead with the help of investment from the Jack Petchey Foundation, Essex County Council and Lakeside Shopping Centre who are supporting the Thurrock and Chelmsford teams.

Panathlon will invest around £30,000 in sports equipment, coaching sessions and multi-sports competitions in Essex during 2010, creating sporting opportunities for disabled youngsters in eight school sport partnership areas.

Find out more about Panathlon Challenge at www.panathlon.com