The Lyons roar to victory
As plans to dismantle the Olympic park in London are underway, Sefton residents kept the Olympic legacy alive.
Taking part in the 2nd annual Sefton Older Peoples Olympics as run by Active Sefton’s Active Lifestyles team and funded through NHS Sefton, Sefton residents enjoyed a range of alternative sporting activities at Dunes Splash World, Southport. With more than seventy residents attending the event ranging in age from 50 to 90 years, this years Olympics broke attendance records on the previous year.
With a range of activities on offer, participants took part in a number of team challenges including welly throwing, bowls, giant jenga, an egg and spoon race and new for this year, a penalty shoot out. Stimulating the mind as well as the body, activities also included a memory card game and team quiz to make sure all participants felt challenged.
Competition throughout the day was intense with a number of participants having attended the previous year wishing to beat their previous scores. Scoring gold medal status this year, The Lyons achieved first place closely followed by Birkdale U3A who achieved silver status and then Half a Six Pence.
Margaret, a member of the winning team, The Lyons commented on the day and her hopes for taking part next year,
“It’s been a great day. I am so happy to have taken part and to have won! There have been some fun activities and I’ve met some lovely people. I hope to take part again next year.”
A sentiment reiterated by Lindsay Russell, Active Lifestyles Development Manager and event organiser,
“Today has been an incredible success and we are so pleased to see so many residents attending our Older People Olympics event once again. At Active Lifestyles we endeavour to offer our users a diverse range of activities to suit their interests and abilities and events like today enable us to do just that. The Older People Olympics highlights the importance of activity and socialising and how much fun it can be meeting friends and taking part in activity, without realising it, we can all keep fit and be active while having fun in a plethora of alternative ways which today has highlighted.”
New for 2012, this years Olympic activities were supported by a number of partner organisations who hosted a number of information stands about their services and helped inform the quiz. Partners in attendance included Age Concern, Sefton Partnership for Older Citizens, Sefton Falls Team, Healthy Sefton, Sefton Alzheimers Society, Sefton Carers, Home Instead and Formby Breath Easy Group.
Active Lifestyles is a healthy living programme designed to offer healthy living support, advice and guidance to members of the public with health concerns. For further information on active Lifestyles activities or similar events like the Older People Olympics, contact the team direct on 0151 934 2352 or e-mail active.lifestyles@sefton.gov.uk.
