Special Olympics Connaught held its Area 1 Athletics event May 11th at the Sligo Institute of Technology in which 121 athletes from 13 clubs participated. 

 

All athletes competed in one track event on the day, with a number of athletes trying the longer distance events, which was great to see. The day started with Aoife Beston from Claremorris SOC participating in the 5000m. Aoife is the first athlete in the region to compete at this distance and it was inspiring to see her finishing her 12 and a half laps with a new personal best.

 

There were also two turbo javelin workshops on the day, which were delivered by Louis Wildenboer who is a javelin competitor and Athletics Ireland National Javelin Coach. The workshops proved very popular on the day with both athletes and coaches and the organisation looks forward to offering this new field event at next year’s Area competitions.

 

Many thanks to all who assisted in this event including from the following organisations:  Abbott Diagnostics Division in Sligo, Elanco, IT Sligo Business and Marketing 3^rd year students and Transition Year students from Sligo Grammar School.  Thanks also go to the Permanent Defence Force from Finner Camp, Ballyshannon, who provided tents, public address system and radios for the event.  Gratitude goes to the management of IT Sligo for providing a great venue.