Manchester hosts Britain’s best in Para-Swimming

This weekend Paralympic, World and Commonwealth medallists will be in Manchester for the British Gas Disability Open Short Course Swimming Championships. For the first time in its event history, the Aquatics Centre will play host to the country’s best in Para-Swimming. They include European champion Steph Slater, World Champion Amy Marren, double gold Paralympic medallist Eleanor Simmonds OBE, six-time Paralympic champion Sascha Kindred OBE and Commonwealth bronze medallist Erraid Davies.

Swimming star Stephanie Slater was crowned Sunday Times and Sky Sports Disability Sportswoman of the Year on Wednesday night. This year has been memorable for the 23 year old since winning S8 100m Freestyle silver for England at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

In August, Slater was the star of the IPC European Swimming Championships in Eindhoven over a long course pool. There, she won a remarkable seven gold medals over the course of seven days- five for individual performances. She was competing in Brazil so could not be in the studios to accept the award this week, but the Preston swimmer returns to race in Manchester. She said:

“I'm looking forward to a fun and fast competition. It’s great to see old friends and make new ones at this event. Hopefully, I can help to inspire up and coming swimmers too.”

Another returning from Brazil for the Championships is 16 year old, Amy Marren (Romford Town). Marren has fast become an international star in the pool. She excelled in 2013 at the IPC Worlds in Canada, winning four golds and two silvers including individual titles over S9 100m Fly and SM9 200m Individual Medley.

Marren added the European SM9 200m Individual Medley title in 2014 and won a further five individual silver medals on her IPC European Championship debut in Eindhoven. She said:

“I'm just returning home from competing in Brazil, so it will be a great meet to learn and practise essential race skills. This weekend, I'm looking for strong swims and hopefully some personal bests.”

It is the first time the organisers, Disability Sport Events (DSE) in partnership with British Swimming, have combined two established short course events together. DSE is an English Federation of Disability Sport (EFDS) programme, which delivers a range of participation opportunities. EFDS is a national charity, dedicated to disabled people in sport and physical activity, supporting a wide range of organisations to include disabled people more effectively. Established in September 1998, EFDS has a vision that disabled people are active for life.

The National Junior and Youth is now merged with the National Short Course Championships, so first time swimmers will be able to meet and race next to their Para-Swimming heroes. The mixture of new and world class gives the championships an extra special atmosphere.

Former Manchester swimmer, Sascha Kindred (Leominster Kingfisher SC) recalls fond memories of the many Short Course events he has competed in over the years. He is one of the most experienced and decorated swimmers in the Paralympic movement, having won 12 medals from the past five Paralympic Games.

Looking forward to the weekend, he said:

“I love swimming at the Short Course nationals. It is always a fun event with lots of fast swims. I've broken a number of World Records at the event.”

Jannine Walker, National Events Manager for EFDS, said:

“We are delighted to bring this event to Manchester for the first time. You can see how recognised this event is by the high standard of entries. It’s a great introduction to top competition for many swimmers and we’re proud how many international Para-swimmers note this as one of their favourites.”

Spectators can attend free of charge during any of the four sessions. Details are as follows: 

Event: British Gas Open Disability Short Course Disability Swimming Championships 2014

Venue: Manchester Aquatics Centre, 2 Booth St East, Manchester, M13 9SS

Dates: Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 November

Saturday:  Session one- 9:00am – 12:30pm. Session two- 2:00- 5:00pm

Sunday: Session three- 9:00 am – 1:00pm. Session four 2:00- 5:00pm

To find a list of entries, follow this link. Start lists will be available on the day.

The Championships are run with thanks to British Gas and ongoing support from British Swimming and Copiertec. DSE relies on sponsorship and fundraising to deliver the successful events programme. If you want to learn more about the support packages available, please get in touch with EFDS’s fundraising team.

Full results will be available on this website over the weekend. Follow the event tweets on the event hashtag #SCSwim2014

For further information or media content please contact:

Jannine Walker, National Events Manager. Email: Jannine Walker  Mobile: 07725 273158

Sarah Marl, Marketing and Communications Manager. Email Sarah Marl Mobile: 07764 291671

Media information

Interviews may be available during the Championships, upon request before the event. All media accreditation must be requested prior to arrival and collected from the event desk in Manchester Aquatics Centre foyer. 

Notes to Editors:

The English Federation of Disability Sport has a vision that disabled people are active for life. EFDS is the national body for disabled people in sport throughout England. Key areas of expertise include:

• Providing advice, guidance and information on sport for disabled people.
• Working with partners to engage more disabled people in sport and physical activity. Partners include National Governing Bodies of sport, National Disability Sports Organisations, education networks, as well as local county sports partnerships, local authorities, disability charities and other third sector organisations.
• Developing and rolling-out national programmes to improve access to sport and physical activity by disabled people, such as Sainsbury’s Active Kids for All Inclusive PE and Community Training
• Providing a comprehensive calendar of participation opportunities through Disability Sport Events. These are delivered to increase the number of disabled people participating at all levels and support the identification and development of talented performers.
• Managing the Inclusive Fitness Initiative (IFI) with a national coverage of 400 IFI Mark accredited gym facilities. The IFI Mark is fundamental in addressing inequality in physical activity; to reach inactive populations, raise awareness of the benefits of exercise and create demand. 
• Influencing and supporting delivery partners to be more inclusive and to provide a greater range and quality of sporting opportunities for disabled people.
• Providing a range of inclusive and high quality training opportunities to increase the number of disabled people involved in sport and physical activity.
• Actively raising the profile of all disabled sports women and men, as well as increasing the opportunities available for disabled people to participate at all levels.
• Fundraising to provide more opportunities through EFDS and attracting additional funds to sport for disabled people.
• EFDS receives funding from Sport England as its national partner for disabled people in sport.

 

About British Swimming

British Swimming is the National Governing Body for Swimming, Diving, Synchronised Swimming, Water Polo and Open Water in Great Britain.  It is responsible internationally for the high performance representation of the sport. The members of British Swimming are the three Home Countries national governing bodies of England (ASA), Scotland (Scottish Swimming) and Wales (Swim Wales). British Swimming seeks to enable its athletes to achieve gold medal success at the Olympics, Paralympics, World Championships and Commonwealth Games. www.swimming.org/britishswimming

For more information, please contact Gemma Field, Senior Communications Officer on Gemma.Field@swimming.org or 07917 726431.