15 November 2012

Two athletes were honoured at the eighth annual Aviva/Telegraph School Sport Matters Awards held at Lord’s Cricket Ground yesterday. Athletics luminaries such as Jessica Ennis, Christine Ohuruogu, Paul Blake and Richard Whitehead were in attendance as Olivia Breen was highly commended and Jordan Howe was commended in the Excellence in Disabled Sport category.

16 year old Breen, of Bohunt School in Hampshire, won a bronze medal in the T35-T38 4x100m relay and finished fifth in the 100m and eighth in the 200m at the Paralympics in London in September. The youngest member of Great Britain’s Paralympics athletics team had also won bronze in both the 100m and 200m at the IPC Athletics European Championships in the Netherlands in June.

Jordan Howe, also 16 at the time of the Paralympics, finished seventh in the T35 100m in London. The Rumney High School student recorded big personal bests over both 100m and 200m during 2012, running 13.04 and 27.86 respectively.

The awards ceremony recognised and celebrated all of the things that are exemplary in school sport and physical education. In their eighth year, the awards recognised athletes and schools in a number of categories including Pupil of the Year, State School of the Year, Independent School of the Year and School Sport Teacher of the Year. The winner of the Excellence in Disabled Sport award was Paralympic swimmer Hannah Russell, who won one silver and two bronze medals at the London Games.

Young athletes looking to start in athletics can do so through the Aviva Parallel Success scheme, which offers opportunities for disabled athletes to become involved in the sport. By working with clubs and coaches and by staging Parallel Success Talent ID days the scheme aims to identify talented disabled athletes and guide them through the Talent Pathway towards the GB&NI athletics team.

For more information about Parallel Success, please visit: http://academy.uka.org.uk/parallel-success/