Gold rush for local athletes

Gold rush for local athletes

20 June 2018

MEMBERS of Down Special Olympics returned home from the Ireland Games in Dublin at the weekend with a haul of gold medals.

There were golden moments for Fintan O’Connor, Jeremy Kilpatrick and Jacqueline Stewart in golf, Frances McVeigh in bocce and Caroline Catling in table tennis.

There was also a bronze medal for Noel McVeigh in football as the tired and weary athletes arrived back in Downpatrick on Sunday night.

All 11 of the Down Special Olympics athletes performed magnificently at the Games and thoroughly enjoyed their time competing and making new friends.

They were also delighted at the success of Team Ulster which scooped more than 250 medals in Dublin across a multitude of sports.

No-one was more pleased than Down Special Olympics chairman Frank Donnelly, who was the driving force behind a group of dedicated competitors. 

“All our athletes enjoyed their time in Dublin. They are all home happy, but exhausted,” he said.

“It was great winning five gold medals, but the important thing was just being there to compete and learn about the disciplines involved in taking part.

“I have been involved with Down Special Olympics since its formation in 2007 and I am absolutely thrilled for Fintan, Jeremy, Jacqueline, Frances, Caroline and Noel, but broken-hearted for the rest of our athletes who didn’t come home with medals.”

The five gold medallists are now in with a chance of being included in the Ireland team to go to next year’s World Games in Abu Dhabi.

However, Mr Donnelly insisted that it was more important for the athletes to have enjoyed the experience of Dublin rather than have set themselves objectives, he added.

“There was a great buzz from within the squad and a camaraderie exists that will never be broken,” he remarked.

“Down Special Olympics is all about providing sporting opportunities for our members and no one can take their undoubted success away from them.

Mr Donnelly, who has served time as an official with Team Ulster and Team Ireland, has mingled in the company of Eunice Kennedy Shriver, a sister of US President John F Kennedy and founder of the World Games.

It was she who inspired him to expand his volunteer work with Special Olympics.

“I met Mrs Shriver on a trip to Washington and a two-hour meeting turned into a full day’s discussion with her,” he continued.

“I started out on this trip with Owenbeg Bowling Club members Joe Denvir, Tony Hynds, Eithne Quinn and the late Ronnie Poxon and the success of our athletes is down to them and the numerous volunteers that help out on a weekly basis.

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the schools in Downpatrick who raised so much money to help our athletes make the trip, as well as Ballynahinch Credit Union, Downpatrick Lions Club, Newry, Mourne and Down council members in Downpatrick and Ardglass and St Patrick’s Golf Clubs for all their help.

“There are far too many individuals to thank, but our athletes wouldn’t have had the success they have enjoyed without the support of an awful lot of people and we would love to see as many of them was possible at our annual Golf Day at St Patrick’s Golf Club on June 29.”