This article is from page 37 of the 2009-09-01 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 37 JPG
THE energetic Shannon Flyers Spe- cial Olympics Club is making acome back after its summer break in a new location.
The athletics club, which previous- ly used the Shannon Leisure Club as its base, will now meet every week at the hall in Newmarket-on-Fergus.
Chairman of the club, Frank Fit- zgerald said the new location will be open to all and encouraged potential members to come along and see the fun and training for themselves.
The athletes train every Saturday from 10am to llam.
They will continue using the hall in Newmarket-on-Fergus for this train- ing until next year, and will then move to outdoor training.
For the last number of years the club has undertaken it’s summer training in Lees Road, Ennis.
In its fifth year, the Shannon Fly- ers club is going from strength to strength and is looking for more ath-
letes for its prize-winning club.
The 15 athletes currently members of Shannon Flyers did the town and county proud last year, returning with numerous medals from the re- gional games in Cork.
Roisin Fitzgerald and Colleen Mulcahy even went on to secure a place on the Munster team and will take part in the All Ireland Games next June, in Limerick.
The athletes at the Shannon Flyers Special Olympics club train for vari- ous athletic events including various distant running, the short put and the long jump.
As well as the 15 athletes the club also has more than 20 volunteers, in- cluding coaches and helpers.
The mission of Special Olympics Ireland is “to provide year-round sports training and athletic compe- tition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with an intellectual disability, giving them continuing opportunities to de- velop physical fitness, demonstrate
courage, experience joy and partici- pate in a sharing of gifts, skills and friendships with their families, other Special Olympics athletes and the community.”
With more than 11,000 athletes participating in 12 sports through 402 clubs, supported by 100 commu- nity networks and 18,000 volunteers, Special Olympics Ireland is now one of Ireland’s largest community and
voluntary organisations, reaching 27 per cent of persons with intellectual disabilities all over the country.