Young Olympians

As part of npower's Active programme of sporting events, run by the Federation of Disability Sports Organisations (FDSO), young athletes will be taking part in regional qualifiers at Huntington Stadium. The pupils of Galtres School and Fulford Cross School will be hoping the heats, held on Wednesday, will win them a place in the Yorkshire championships in Leeds next month. Oulton Golf Course, at Rothwell, Leeds, was today playing host to a golf session for young deaf people. The session, also sponsored by npower, was being run by professional coaches, joined by sign language translators.

It was being followed by a tournament for experienced players.

In the regional athletics heats, the top two athletes in each event category will qualify for the Yorkshire championships, where many members of English Sports Association for People with Learning Disabilities national athletics squad began their athletic careers.

Track events include running and walking races and a range of wheelchair slaloms for motorised, assisted and unassisted wheelchair users, while the field events feature high jump, long jump, standing long jump, softball throw and wheelchair softball throw.

Kevin Rodgers, npower's community relations manager for the Yorkshire region, said: "The key aim in our community relations programme is to create wider opportunities for people with disabilities to get involved in a whole range of sports and explore their athletic abilities. I'm looking forward to this event and seeing the achievements of local up-and-coming athletes."

Kevan Halliday-Brown, regional manager at the FDSO, said of the npower Active programme: "This is the biggest regional sports development programme in the country, providing events for people with physical, learning, hearing and visual disabilities across Yorkshire. npowers support is vital for us to continue helping them explore their talents and realise their potential."

Updated: 09:06 Saturday, May 03, 2003