Aquatic Centre hosts Panathlon Swim Finals

Three teams from London battled it out to become Panathlon’s first London Swimming champions, at the finals day competition held at the prestigious London Aquatic Centre.  In a closely fought battle, Trinity School from Dagenham in East London ran out the winners against Marlborough School from Bexley and Swiss Cottage School in Camden.  Each of these had already won their regional heat to qualify for the final.

The occasion was a fantastic opportunity for these young swimmers to compete in the same pool as where famous names such as Tom Daley and Rebecca Adlington had won Olympic medals at London 2012.

Sam Steven, sports coach at Trinity School said “It’s brilliant.  It’s the best event we’ve been to so far.  It’s a brilliant atmosphere and it’s been really good competition.  The kids have really enjoyed it.  It means a lot to them and there will be a big celebration when they get back to school.  If you’d seen where these kids have come from, it incredible, especially one of our boys, Alley.  This time last year he was terrified of the water and now he’s come here and competed.  I’m really proud of him.”

The boys and girls from Trinity School collected their medals and certificates from WNST Chief Executive, Stewart Goshawk and Paralympic gold medal swimmer Liz Johnson.    Trinity just missed out on the South East England title to Priory School from Bury St Edmunds, but the London title went back to Dagenham.

The occasion was supported with funding from WNST’s grant to Panathlon, enabling disabled young people in London to give sport a try.  The charity’s swimming programme began in 2013 to introduce severely disabled young people to water experiences, often for the first time.  It has already seen over 1,000 participants across 22 London boroughs and 8 counties outside the capital.