NEWS

January 2012

  • Barking & Dagenham through to East London Final

    Posted: Monday 30th January 2012
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    Breaking News - Team Barking & Dagenham through to East London Final on March 13th, with comprehensive win today. Team B&D, competing at home at Robert Clack School won Football, Polybat, Athletics Field and Athletics Races and came second in the 3 remaining sports of Boccia, Table Cricket and Kurling. They amassed 64 points in winning, with rivals Hackney in 2nd on 54 points and Havering in 3rd with 50 points. Hackney must wait until the other East London qualifiers take place to see if they can sneak in to the East London Final as the highest scoring runner up.

    Yvonne O'Keefe, team co-ordinator, said, "I'm delighted to make the East London Final. We had trials for our team and they performed really well today and should be proud of their performance"

    Full report to follow... 

  • Jack Petchey Extends Panathlon Partnership

    Posted: Thursday 26th January 2012
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    Panathlon celebrates the start of 2012 with a major financial boost from its funding partner, The Jack Petchey Foundation.

    The Panathlon Challenge has been providing sporting activities for disabled young people aged between five and 19 since 1999. The new grant of £78,245 from the Foundation will guarantee the participation of around 100 schools across London and Essex during 2012.

    Danny Crates, who won 800m gold at the 2004 Paralympics and carried the GB flag four years ago in Beijing, is patron for the charity.

    He said: “Panathlon is a fantastic opportunity for young disabled people to take part in sporting competition and I thank the Jack Petchey Foundation for investing consistently in the expansion of the Panathlon Challenge in recent years.”

    The Foundation has now invested over £250,000 in Panathlon over the last eight years. Set up in 1999 by businessman Jack Petchey, it has donated in excess of £65million towards projects which give opportunities to young people aged between 11 and 25 in London and Essex.

    Trudy Kilcullen, Chief Operations Officer for the Foundation said: “We believe that all young people should have the opportunity to achieve their potential.

    “Panathlon is the only organisation that enables young disabled people to participate fully in competitive sports designed to suit their needs. We fully support their work and look forward to seeing even more disabled young people becoming coaches and sports leaders in the future.“

    The Panathlon Challenge incorporates the sports of boccia, polybat, table cricket, new-age kurling, football and athletics. It starts in January and culminates in a London final in June .

    The new investment will allow the charity to develop its coaching awards, leadership courses and official qualifications for disabled young people. Additional funding will enable development of Powerchair football for wheelchair users.

    Panathlon will also continue to develop the Jack Petchey Foundation Outstanding Achievement Award to recognise exceptional contributions from disabled young people.

    Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson, one of the UK’s most distinguished athletes of all time and the winner of 11 Paralympic gold medals, is also a supporter of the Panathlon Challenge.

    She said: “Panathlon is striving to give everyone a chance to participate, regardless of ability and that is something I applaud. Good luck to everyone taking part in the Panathlon Challenge this year.”

    Ends

    NOTES TO EDITORS

    · Panathlon Challenge has been delivering competitive opportunities for young disabled Londoners since 1999. It incorporates the sports of Boccia, Polybat, table cricket, new-age kurling, football and athletics, and involves disabled children aged between five and 19

    · During 2012 it will invest £250,000 in sports equipment and coaching funds in 32 London boroughs and 10 areas in Essex. Multi-sport competitions will take place between January to June 2012. Panathlon will also be working in Kent, Wiltshire, Merseyside and other cities during 2012, involving around 3,000 disabled young people in total. To find out more visit www.panathlon.com

    · The Panathlon Foundation Charity (1072638) is funded this year by the Mayor of London, St James’s Place Foundation and various other trusts and charities.

    · The Jack Petchey Foundation was established in 1999 and gives grants to programmes and projects that benefit young people aged 11-25. The Foundation is eager to help young people take advantage of opportunities and play a full part in society. The Foundation focuses on London and Essex. Since it has been established the Foundation has awarded grants totalling over £65million. Jack Petchey was awarded a CBE in 2011. To find out more visit www.jackpetcheyfoundation.org.uk

    Enquiries to:

    Ashley Iceton, Panathlon Challenge 01279 680980 or ashley@panathlon.com

    Simon Lansley, ConnectSport 07973 595791 or simonlansley@connectsport.co.uk

  • Hammersmith storm to victory

    Posted: Thursday 19th January 2012
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    Panathlon were in West London for the second first-round competition, this time hosted by Featherstone High School. The teams, comprising of 12 schools, were from Ealing, Hammersmith & Fulham and Hounslow.

    Today was a day of Panathlon firsts, most notably Hammersmith & Fulham's inspired performance and equally, the impressive officiating being done by local Sports Leaders - from Featherstone High School and Villiers High School, who were qualified in December as "Panathlon Young Officials."

    From the outset the competition was close, ends frequently being won by one point, cricket games coming down to the last over, athletics performances being separated by only small fractions. Hounslow, who had the smallest team, punched well above their weight. They took the Polybat competition convincingly and on another day and with a better football result, they would have given Ealing a closer battle for second place. Ealing starred in athletics, they won the field athletics and came second in the athletics races only on count back, their manual wheelchair race was one of the fastest I’ve seen.

    However, today was Hammersmith & Fulham’s day. They amassed 66 out of the possible 70 points available – they won the Boccia, Table Cricket, New Age Kurling and the Athletics Races following on from their previous victory in the Football.

    This is the first time that Hammersmith & Fulham will progress to the West Final and with Hillingdon having done the same earlier in the week, it seems that 2012 is the year of the underdogs coming good. I am looking forward to seeing how they’ll fair come March.

    Katy, one-to-one support worker for Jamie, Powerchair Athlete from H&F said, "This is a wonderful day - the level of organisation is superb, the Panathlon Leaders are brilliant, and an enormous amount of imagination has gone toward making this a fantastic and energetic day out!"

    We were lucky to have Josh Beacham from the Paralympic football team handing out the medals, Josh commented, " I want to say how much I enjoyed today, and how much I am impressed with all who took part in the Panathlon."

    Many thanks to particularly thank to Stuart Weston, from Featherstone High School, for looking after us so well, and to the team managers – Christie Moloney, Kevin Coakley and Peter Shears.

  • 2012 Panathlon kicks off in the West

    Posted: Tuesday 17th January 2012
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    Panathlon were in West London for the opening competition involving teams from Harrow, Hillingdon and Brent. With 2 teams to go through to the West Final the race to be the new Panathlon Champion for 2012 has begun. If todays standard of play is anything to go by, then we are not only in for a year of good sport but also one full of surprises!

    Today's surprise was the Hillingdon team, who followed up their good result in the football last week with wins in the Polybat and New Age Kurling. At lunch Hillingdon were in joint first position with Harrow, who continued their good form from previous years, taking the Boccia, Table Cricket and Field Athletics events. A couple of performance of note from the Harrow team was Dillon's Powerchair Slarlom of 31 seconds and Kotetsu's standing long jump of 2.30m. Both phenomenal achievements. This has inspired me to start a Panathlon Book of Records for 2012 to see if any athlete this year can better these scores!

    Brent did particularly well in the Athletics Races, only just missing out on maximum points, and in the Polybat were unlucky to come in 3rd place - All the 3 Polybat teams had 2 wins each, then all had 5 games won each - so it went to "points difference" to separate them.

    "I enjoyed it so much especially when I got a gold medal in Boccia. We worked very hard throughout the tournament and we feel really happy to be part of this competition." Hillingdon Team Member from Coteford School.

    (Some of the Team pictured with the Mayor of Hillingdon)



    As Hillingdon lacked Powerchairs they struggled to gain enough points in the afternoon but have they have reached their first final ever! Congratulations to them and to Harrow, we'll see them again in the West Final.

  • Havering Selection Internal Panatlon

    Posted: Monday 9th January 2012
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    A fantastic mini Panathlon event took place today at Hornchurch Sports Centre in Havering., 27 young people from 3 schools, Corbets Tey, Dycorts, and the overall winners Marshalls Park, took part in the Panathlon sports in what turned out to be a really competitive days action !

    The event was officiated by the Young Leaders from Campion School Hornchurch, who received Panathlon sports coaching last week. See pic below !


    Joe Playle from Havering Sports Development team co-ordinated the event and said, "It was fantastic to see two special schools and one mainstream school get involved. It was a  great day and experience for all involved!"

    The eventual winners were Marshalls Park with 34 points, closely followed by Corbets Tey in 2nd with 32 points and Dycorts in 3rd with 30 points.

    Well done to all involved !

    Look forward to seeing you compete on January 30th in the first round of the 2012 Panathlon against, Barking & Dagenham and Hackney.