Medals Galore for the Special Olympic Swimmers

Mitchell Wright won Gold in the 25m freestyle.

Medal presentation by Jan Liversage, Head Teacher Amwell View School and Specialist Sports College

SPECIAL Olympics East Herts hosted

their Inaugural Eastern Regional

Swimming Gala on Saturday 6th October

2012 at the Hertfordshire Sports Village,

University of Hertfordshire, de Havilland

Campus, Hatfield.

Over 100 swimmers travelled from across

the country to take part in the event. Local

Special Olympic clubs from St. Albans,

North London and Essex made the

journey, however, clubs as far away as

Coventry, Cheshire, Redditch, Windsor

and Bedford also travelled to compete.

Ladies 25m backstroke

The events started with the 50m freestyle

then moved on to 25 metres of each

stroke; backstroke, butterfly, freestyle and

breaststroke finishing with three heats of 4

x 25m relays.

Team SO East Herts winning Silver Medal in the

Mens 4 x 25m freestyle relay.

Special Olympics East Herts Team was

represented by Mitchell Wright (winning

Gold in the 25m freestyle and Silver in the

50m freestyle); James Green ( winning

Gold in the 50 freestyle and Silver in the

25m freestyle); Philip Goodall (winning

Gold in the 25m freestyle and Silver in the

25m backstroke); Sian Richards (winning

Gold in the 25m backstroke and Bronze in

the 50m freestyle); Jeff Saggs (winning

Gold in the 25m freestyle and Bronze in

the 25m freestyle); Tara Phillips (winning

Gold in the 50m freestyle); Lorraine McCarthy (winning Gold in the 25m

freestyle); Philippa Perry (winning Gold in

the 25m freestyle); Martin Willmott (Gold

in the 25m freestyle); Joel Weeks

(claiming two Silvers in the 50m and 25m

freestyle); Matthew Casey (claiming Silver

in the 50m freestyle); Jessica Aldridge

(claiming Silver in the 25m freestyle);

Sharon Mann (claiming Silver in the 50m

freestyle and Bronze in the 25m

backstroke); Matt Philpott (achieving two

Bronzes in the 50m and 25m freestyle);

Sam Wilson (achieving Bronze in the 25m

backstroke, and 5th place in the 25m

freestyle); Ashley West (achieving a

Bronze in the 25m freestyle and 6th place

in the 50m freestyle); Zak Guy (achieving

Bronze in the 25m freestyle) and Pino De Foe swimming in his first gala swam a 32

second personal best time which meant he

received a Participation Certificate

because he swam too fast!

Lorraine McCarthy

Dave Harman Chairman of Special

Olympics Eastern Region and SOGB

Technical Advisor for swimming said “the

event was run very professionally, during

the evening I made a point of speaking to

all of the teams and everybody said they

were enjoying themselves”.

Tara Phillips

Janet Warrington Head Coach of

Hoddesdon Swimming Club (Hub Club for

Disability Swimming in Hertfordshire) and

Sports Development Officer for SO East

Herts said “I am very pleased with how the

event went, this was the first swimming

gala SOEH has hosted and the feedback

has been extremely positive. We will be

making this an annual event”.

Philip Goodall and Jan Liversage

www.specialolympicseastherts.org