In a wonderful exhibition of competitive sport between 4 highly motivated Essex teams, Harlow, the current champions, successfully defended their crown in the big county final on 1st July. Pitched against Southview in Witham, Oakview from Loughton and Beacon Hill, Thurrock, at the Riverside Sports Centre, Chelmsford, the champions powered through to retain the prestigious title of Essex Panathlon Champions 2010.
Danny Crates celebrates with the winning Harlow Team.
They didn’t have it all their own way. Southview and Beacon Hill were right on their heels and in the end couldn’t be separated, finishing joint second. Oakview, appearing in the final for the first time, will have learned from the experience and will be looking to seriously challenge the others in 2011.
Danny Crates, Paralympic Champion and Panathlon charity patron was in attendance to award medals and witness the action. He says: ”I’ve seen some great Panathlon events in the last year and the performances by young disabled athletes has been inspiring. Many thanks from Panathlon to all our sponsors for enabling hundreds of local young disabled people to play and enjoy sport.”
Brandon Mullin, PE teacher at Beacon Hill School said, “We had a fantastic time at the Panathlon Final and pushed the winners from Harlow very close. We are very proud of our second place and this was definitely helped by the extra coaching prior to the competition that Lakeside Shopping Centre kindly paid for which prepared us very well”
The Panathlon Challenge charity 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. Katie White, from Marketing at Lakeside attended the final and said: “I had an excellent afternoon and it was very enjoyable watching the kids having such a great time. We are delighted to be supporting the Panathlon Challange.”
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
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