Members of Teesdale Special Olympics took part in the third annual Unified Sports Tournament which is hosted by Coca Cola Enterprises.
The events are held in connection with Special Olympics Great Britain with the aim of bringing together competitors with and without learning disabilities together on the same team to compete.
Four swimmers from the Teesdale Special Olympics team, which trains at Teesdale Leisure Centre, took part in the event, which was held at Morpeth Leisure Centre on October 20.
Kit Heywood, Jonathan Taylour, Declan Haughney and Adam Rowntree were joined by other Special Olympics swimmers from across the region.
They competed as part of mixed teams with employees from Coca Cola sites in Morpeth, Wakefield and East Kilbride.
Teesdale Special Olympics’ assistant coach Christine Taylour said: “Our swimmers had a great day and were made very welcome. We mixed up abilities into teams and had a small competition. We had two of our swimmers in each team. Wakefield was the overall winner on the day in swimming.
“Our swimmers did really well and it was an extremely fair and real competition. They are amazing. All in all it was a great day out and it gets us into the wider community and raises our profile.”
The event also encompassed other sports such as football, boccia, short mat bowls and badminton.
Special Olympics is the “third arm” of the Olympics movement alongside the Paralympics and the Olympics.
Unified Sports was introduced to try to break down stereotypes of people with intellectual disabilities in a fun way. It was inspired by the principle that training together and playing together is a quick path to friendship and understanding.
The next event for Teesdale Special Olympics is at Harrogate later this month. Seven swimmers will be competing in the regional gala on November 19 in preparation for the Special Olympics National Summer Games which take place in Sheffield next August.
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