The Midway team.

43 Meath participants at Special Olympics

County Meath can be a proud place as 43 local heroes prepare to set off for the hugely anticipated Special Olympics Ireland Games this week. Special Olympics athletes from MIDWAY Services, Royal Rovers Football Club, Navan Arch Club, Navan Special Olympics Club and Trim Special Olympics Club will travel to Limerick for an event that runs from June 12th to June 15th. This huge honour only comes around every four years and the excitement within the county is rife.

A total of 21 athletes from MIDWAY services will compete in seven different sports. These sports are aquatics, athletics, bocce, equestrian, football, golf and the motor activities training programme. The Royal Rovers Football team consists of eight local ladies while Navan Arch Club is well represented with eight athletes competing in basketball, table tennis and bowling. Navan SO Club have four well prepared athletes setting off to fly their flag and two quality swimmers from Trim SO will also make the trip.

A lot of work and commitment has gone into preparing all these athletes for the games and this is all thanks to the coaches involved within these five clubs. While this is a four year journey, the last year has been particularly testing on all involved but there is no doubt that come Sunday it will all have been worth while.

Once this journey ends on Sunday, all eyes will turn to the draw for the Special Olympics World Games next year which will be held in Los Angeles. Win, lose or draw this weekend, we can all be very proud of the achievements of these superb athletes.