The East of England Disability Championships

 The East of England Disability Championships were held on the 19th May, at the Chelmsford Athletic track. This is an annual competition where athletes with disabilities and impairments compete within the Eastern region of the UK! For the first time this year, the competition organisers introduced an element of this for primary school children, and we, the Richard Hale Young Games Maker Team, worked alongside Ros Cramp, the North Herts Sports Partnership Coordinator, and a teacher at Knights Templar School to organise this competition. Athletes representing Ashley School, Herts Development Squad, East Herts Special Olympics and Harlow Athletics Club were all present at this event. The event was a multi-discipline event, where the athletes competed in a track event, a throwing event and a jumping event. During our spare time we were invited to assist the technical officials on the field of play, which was a great experience for us, too work alongside athletes who were competing on behalf of grass routes clubs, and much larger organisations. We were also given the time to practice our tie down role with athletes and officials, which will further prepare us for our role at the Paralympics! Our event, which was being run for the first time was viewed by spectators, organisers and competitors alike as a great success, and we hope that the events will continue to run in the future! We would like to express our thanks to Ros who put so much effort into organising the Championships, and ensured that we were very well looked after on the day!