The Special Olympians of Nevis, accompanied by several volunteers and coaches, continued their preparation for the 2019 Abu Dhabi Special Olympics games, on Sunday 20th January, with a triathlon/duathlon event.
The swim was held at Oualie beach and the biking aspect of the event, saw the athletes making several treks from Oualie to the Airport and back.
The event climaxed with the run, which saw the athletes running from Oualie to the Airport and back.
Some athletes did not compete in the swim aspect of the event and this it was referred to as a duathlon,
The overall results were as follows:
TRIATHLON—— 750m swim/20km bike/5km run
1st Valarie Gregorie 1:40.17 Valarie is one of the Open Water Swim coaches and works as a dive instructor
2nd Robert Liddie 1:51.00 Robert is a Special Olympic athlete who will be representing Nevis in Triathlon at World Games
3rd Mary Parks 1:52.15 Mary lives in Nevis and is a professional chef
4th Geoff Folsom 2:00.34 Geoff lives in Nevis and is in charge of Enclave Resources recycling
5th Lynn Edgar 2:10.07 Lynn is a visitor to Nevis
DUATHLON——2km run/20km bike/5km run
1st Jamor Merchant 1:24.27 Jamor is a Special Olympic athlete and will be representing the Federation in cycling
2nd Shane Nisbett 1:26.45 Shane is a Special Olympic athlete and will also be representing the Federation in cycling
3rd Omar Pemberton 1:33.18 Omar is a local assistant cycling coach
4th Leon Silcott 1:58.51 Leon is a Special Olympic athlete who designed our “Road to Abu Dhabi” t-shirts and has represented the Federation in four World Games
There were also two Special Olympic athletes from St. Kitts who competed in the event: Lemmy Hobson and Ashton Mills. Lemmy will be representing the Federation in Open Water Swimming and Ashton will be representing us in Triathlon. He was unable to complete the full Triathlon, as he did not swim due to an illness.
Another similar event is planned for the 10th of February.
It is understood that of the ten athletes in training, only six will eventually be chosen for the Abu Dhabi trip for the Olympic Games.
Special Olympics World Games Abu Dhabi 2019 will take place between 14 – 21 March and will be held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE’s Armed Forces.
With more than 7,500 athletes from over 192 nations competing, Special Olympics World Games Abu Dhabi 2019 will be the largest sports and humanitarian event in the world and will set the benchmark for the most unified Games in the 50-year history of the Special Olympics movement.