Over 2,600 athletes and around 10,000 supporters gathered in Sheffield for the Special Olympics National Summer Games from 7-12 August.
Rob McCarthy, who leads the Dow Schofield Watts Transaction Services team in Leeds, played a key role. Rob was responsible for delivering the athletics programme, the largest in the games which saw more than 400 athletes compete in over 100 events.
DSW Transaction Services Leeds sponsored two Yorkshire athletes, Edward Williams (100m, 200m and long jump) and Andrew Cole (100m and 200m), who between them won two Gold medals and a Silver.
The Special Olympics is the world’s largest organisation of its type for children and adults with intellectual disabilities. Rob’s involvement started over 20 years ago when his brother Martin took part and he is now national coaching and competition adviser for Special Olympics GB.
“The Special Olympics offers huge benefits to our athletes, helping them to overcome isolation and poor health, develop their social skills and make new friends. Organising such a packed programme of events takes a lot of hard work but is also a truly rewarding experience for volunteers. Next stop will be the World Games in Abu Dhabi in Spring of 2019!”
The picture shows Edward and Andrew with their local Pudsey coach, Simon.