Special Olympians train for gold at Aura

News released: 23rd Oct 2009

The quest for sporting success has to start somewhere and for young Louth athletes it starts at Aura Drogheda Leisure Centre. Brid Heeney and Leonie Sarsfield are two local athletes whose swimming careers are set to scale new heights when they represent Leinster in the upcoming 2010 Special Olympics Ireland Games in Limerick next year.

The two local Drogheda athletes Brid and Leonie are Leinster swim champions in the 1600m freestyle and 15m unassisted swim events respectively.

The talented swimmers have successfully progressed through the regional stages of the competition and are enjoying huge support as they prepare to further their swimming careers by representing Leinster at National level in the finals next June.

The young athletes who started their careers with Drogheda Swimming club have now been training with Drogheda Special Olympics Swimming club at Aura Drogheda Leisure Centre for the last year and a half. They train with their club at Aura every Friday evening under the supervision of their coaches, Deirdre Black, Karen Vorster, Ann Egan and Brian Black and Aura’s fully qualified swim instructors.

“All of us here at Aura would like to extend our congratulations to the athletes on their recent successes. They have been training at Aura for the last year and a half and it is great to see how all of their hard work and dedication is really paying off. We are delighted to support them in any way we can and will continue to do so in order to help them reach their future sporting goals,” explained Michelle Finnan, Operations Manager at Aura Drogheda Leisure Centre.

“At Aura we are proud to sponsor and support local sporting talent. The fact that we have been part of helping produce such great local swimming talent is a reflection of the excellent facilities and the dedicated staff that we have here. We pride ourselves on offering first class facilities and professional guidance to everyone that comes through our door,” added Michelle.

Aura is further supporting the Drogheda Special Olympics team by running a fundraising raffle at the centre throughout the month of October. Anyone wishing to support this worthy cause can buy tickets at reception. First prize is one year’s free Aura Membership, second prize is a 10 week course of Adult Swimming lessons and the third prize is a personal training session. All money raised will go directly to the Drogheda Special Olympics Team who are representing the county in the National Finals in Limerick in June of next year.

Further information about the any of the classes or programmes taking place at Aura Drogheda is available by contacting reception at 041 987 4478.