The Limbless Association

LET THE GAMES BEGIN

On 14th-15th August 2010 100 amputees will meet at Stoke Mandeville Stadium – the national centre for wheelchair sport and the birthplace of the paralympic games – in Buckinghamshire to take part in a unique sporting competition, The Amputee Games.

Participants will take part in 13 Paralympics sports – run by the sports governing bodies – over two-days, where they will learn which sports best suit their ability and their lifestyle as well as their individual talents, they will also experience the benefits of participation in sport.

Participation in the games is designed for primary amputees who have been an amputee for between one and four years, this is to ensure that injuries sustained through trauma have healed and that participants are wearing suitable prostheses which will enable them to participate: this will also ensure that each year new amputees get the opportunity to participate while previous participants move onto their chosen sport.

The Games will give these primary amputees an opportunity to experience a wide variety of sports, taught by specialist from the individual sports governing bodies and associations. They will take part in 13 different sports both recreationally and competitively: providing them with a pathway to join the individual disability sporting associations after the games, where they can progress their skills. The four competitive sports, each featured in the Paralympics, are swimming, athletics, shooting and archery and the nine non-competitive sports, are wheelchair basketball, badminton, table-tennis, fencing, sitting volleyball, power lifting, athletics, cycling and hand-cycling, and tennis.

The Amputee Games is presented by LimbPower and supported by WheelPower, The Limbless Association and The Douglas Bader Foundation and sponsored by Chas.A.Blatchfords and Boost Charitable Trust

For further information on the Games please contact Catherine Booth cathy.booth@welbeckwealth.com or Kiera Roche at kiera@limbpower.com.

You can read more about the Amputee Games on our website: www.limbpower.com

Notes for Editors:

• Points will be awarded to teams who finish in the top five places for each of the competitive sports. Additional points will be awarded for participation in the non-competitive sports

• LimbPower’s objectives are to utilise sports and the arts to aid the physical, social and psychological rehabilitation of amputees and other ambulant disabled people, through providing grassroots sporting and arts opportunities. To offer disabled people relief by aiding rehabilitation and improving quality of life through the provision of recreational and competitive sports, arts and events.

• WheelPower is the national organisation for wheelchair sport in the UK and the umbrella body for 14 sports association. As owners of Stoke Mandeville Stadium WheelPower provides facilities and opportunities in disability sport for men, women and children of all ages and abilities.

• Chas A Blatchfords is a global supplier of prosthetic and orthotic products and services, offering lower limb prosthetic component manufacture and distribution world wide, and focused clinical supply of prostheses and orthoses in selected markets including the UK and India. http://www.blatchford.co.uk

• Boost Charitable Trust is a charitable trust created in 2005 to Build On Over-looked Sporting Talent. All of their activities are designed to champion the disabled and disadvantaged and to inspire them to overcome their challenges through the power of sport. The charity provides grants and sponsorship to individuals and groups which meet these goals. http://www.boostct.org/