Local Down syndrome athletics day is still growing
The Down Syndrome Association Pretoria’s Sport Club hosted their annual Down Syndrome Athletics Day at the Tuks Athletics Stadium this past weekend.
The annual athletics day of the Down Syndrome Association Pretoria’s Sport Club was presented with great success in the Tuks Athletics Stadium at the University of Pretoria’s sports campus on Saturday.
The association hosted their first official local athletics day last year, after sport has for years been practiced only on a social level in the city by people with Down syndrome.
According to Magda Lourens from the association persons with Down syndrome have historically been marginalised with regards to participation in sport. Therefore they started to create sport opportunities for those with Down syndrome with events like this.
The association believes that sport plays a fundamental part in physical and mental development of any athlete. Skills learned during participation in sport also contribute to the holistic development of the athlete. Therfore they want to encourage sportsmanship and a healthy lifestyle in persons with Down syndrome.
The Down Syndrome Association Pretoria’s Sport Club also joined the South African Sports Association for the Intellectually Impaired (SASAII). Through this membership their sportsmen now have the opportunity to participate in sports such as athletics and swimming at national and international level.
About 430 athletes were part of Saturday’s action in Pretoria. This included various athletic items for ten different age groups from 2-5-year olds up to the open section, which includes all athletes over the age of 25.
The oldest participant at the event was a 60-year-old lady.
On the track, the athletes participated in 60m, 80m, 100m and 200m sprints as well as 400m and 800m races. Provision was also made for walkers with an 800m item for younger athletes and a 1 500m race for older participants. Field items such as long jump, shot-put, discus and javelin were also part of the programme.
Parents got the chance to participate in the action in the pram race in which Down syndrome babies and toddlers were pushed in a pram. The kick-bike race for toddlers with Down syndrome contributed to the fun of the event.
This year the event has grown significantly in terms of the number of supporters in the stands.
Lourens also told Rekord that they are very grateful to the large number of volunteers without which the event could not be presented successfully. These volunteers acted as officials as well as assistants to the athletes at the event.
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