Barbadian special athlete Ross Forde finished a commendable tenth place at the tenth annual Cayman Islands 800 metres Butterfield Sea Swim.
Forde, who was accompanied on the recent trip by coach Jasper Blades, completed the event in a time of 28 minutes, 6 seconds at Cayman Islands’ Seven-Mile Beach.
The event, which also included participants from Jamaica and Curaçao, came at the culmination of an open water training clinic hosted by Special Olympics Cayman Islands.
The clinic was a Special Olympics International pilot project that will form the basis for open water swim clinics for Special Olympics programmes worldwide.
The project’s ultimate goal is preparing athletes to compete in the open water sea swim at the 2015 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Los Angeles.
According to Kester Edwards, co-ordinator for leadership development and education with Special Olympics International, the organization has identified 266 Special Olympics athletes worldwide from 40 countries who have participated in local open water swims.
“We have only begun to scratch the surface of all the Special Olympics athletes who do open water swims at the local and regional levels,” Edwards said.
Special Olympics International has developed a comprehensive, interactive online coaching manual.
At the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games held in Athens, Greece, Barbados sent a small team of seven athletes, who competed in bocce, table tennis and athletics. All seven earned medals. (PR/HG)
