Lakeside Shopping Centre has donated £500 of sports coaching to the London Borough of Barking & Dagenham to prepare and train its young disabled students before they compete in the Panathlon Challenge Final on June 24th.

The Barking & Dagenham team, which will receive the Lakeside support, includes disabled students at Trinity School, Dagenham Park and Eastbrook School. The Barking & Dagenham team qualified for the London Final of the Panathlon Challenge, a mini–paralympic style competition for young disabled people, having got through two qualifying rounds in January and March. They now compete against other finalists including teams from Croydon, Lambeth, Haringey and Harrow at the prestigious London Final on June 24th.

The Panathlon Challenge charity (www.panathlon.com) provides free sports equipment, coaching sessions and competitions across London and 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 East London and Essex benefit from our investment in sports equipment and competitions.”

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson said, “The Panathlon Challenge is sport at its very finest – competitive, inclusive and inspiring. Long may it continue to thrive. “

Barking and Dagenham Team Co-ordinator, Yvonne O’Keefe said, “we are delighted that Lakeside Shopping Centre are giving us extra coaching and preparation for our final next month. Our students thoroughly enjoy the Panathlon Challenge and we hope to bring the trophy back home with us this year!”

The Panathlon Challenge is now in its tenth successful year of delivering sporting opportunities and “mini-paralympic” style competitions for young disabled sports people and around 125 athletes aged between 8 and 18, enjoy competing against each other each day. The event goes ahead with the help of investment from the Jack Petchey Foundation, The Mayor of London and Lakeside Shopping Centre.

The Panathlon charity will invest around £100,000 in sports equipment, coaching sessions and multi-sports competitions in East London and Essex during 2010, creating sporting opportunities for hundreds of disabled youngsters.

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