Golden glory for Ballymena Bocce Club

Five local athletes made the journey to Limerick and returned with a very impressive haul of 14 medals and one fourth place finish.

The Ballymena Team who competed with the 1,900 Special Olympics athletes during the four days competition were William Patton, Stuart Shaw, Kelly Rafferty Stephanie Kennedy and Phoebe Dalrymple.

They were joined by local coaches Anne Parkhill and Cillian McIlroy. The group are hoping for a reception with the Mayor to celebrate their achievement.

Andrea McCready, Chairperson of Ballymena Bocce Club told the Times that the club are proud of the competitors, she said: "We have five athletes who went down and did extremely well.

"Being selected to appear at the games is a tremendous achievement in itself and of course winning the medals is the icing on the cake."

The Club, who have been running for nine years, meet every Thursday night at Ballymena Leisure Centre from 7.00pm until 8.00pm. They have stopped for their summer break but will be returning in September.

Already Andrea is looking towards the next event on the horizon which is the Special Olympic World Games in Greece next year and all five athletes would love to be selected for such a prestigious event.

The Club are always on the lookout for new athletes and new volunteers. If you know somebody who would be interested in joining, either as an athlete or volunteer all you need to do is turn up on the night and you will be made very welcome.

Andrea said she would to thank Marks and Spencer, those who helped with Bucket days at the Saturday Market and friends and customers of Shaw Wood finishing for all their support.