75 disability swimmers of all ages and abilities will compete at the inaugural Sydney Uni Swim Club (SUSC) Access Swim Meet this Saturday June 30 at the Sydney Uni Sports & Aquatic Centre (SUSAC).
The Access Swim Meet – generously supported by City of Sydney, Special Olympics NSW, Fine Print and Sydney Uni Sport & Fitness (SUSF) – will hold in excess of 30 free swimming events for swimmers with a disability.
Events will range from 15m participation races to a 400m freestyle event to cater for males and females of all swimming abilities. Participants have registered in up to four events each and entry is completely free.
The youngest registered competitor is just 8 years of age, the eldest is 75, and swimmers are travelling from as far and wide as the ACT, Central Coast, Bathurst and Newcastle – highlighting the diversity of competitors that are set to compete at this Saturday’s meet.
Competing in the Access Swim Meet will be an impressive eight members of the Australian Paralympic Shadow Swim Squad – Prue Watt, Katrina Porter, Sarah Rose, Maddison Elliott, Reagan Wickens, Tim Aftantly, Andrew Patersfield and Annabelle Williams – all of whom will be heading to London once the team is formally announced on July 10.
Prue Watt, Katrina Porter and Sarah Rose are also all part of the Sydney Uni Access Swim Program. All three girls have already competed in two Paralympic Games. All three of the girls will also be available to sign autographs for participants on the day.
Sydney Uni Swim Club Coach Vanessa Smith can’t wait to run the Access Swim Meet on Saturday, which solidifies SUSC’s commitment to supporting and developing disability swimmers of all ages and abilities.
“This meet sums up what the access program is all about, participation in disability sport in a fun friendly environment,” said Smith.
SUSF runs an Access Swim Program to provide support to people with a disability who want to swim. The non for profit program offers Learn to Swim, Squad and High Performance based programs to swimmers who require more support than they can obtain from a mainstream program.
All competitors will receive a free prize pack on the day, which includes a free t-shirt and a host of other gifts.
The first race will begin at 1.30pm, with warm ups to take place from 12.30pm onwards on Saturday June 30th.
Registrations for the SUSC Access Swim Meet are no longer open but spectators are encouraged to come along and view an exciting afternoon of action.
For further information please contact: Vanessa Smith on [email protected] or 02 9351 8735.
