Six days to take off for Offaly Special Olympians

Offaly's three Special Olympians are set for their global challenge at the Special Olympics Summer Games in Athens later this month, and will fly out from Ireland to the games just six days from now. The county will be represented in basketball, football and gymnastics by athletes Gary McCabe from Clara, Patrick Moore from Rhode and John Michael Gannon from Cloghan, along with Offaly coach Rody Spillane from Birr. Gary, Patrick and John Michael are just three members of a 124-strong Team Ireland, which was launched this week at Dublin's Convention Centre. Sponsored by eircom, Team Ireland are now making final preparations for travel to the games that take place from June 25 to July 4. The team is scheduled to leave Ireland from Dublin airport next Monday (June 20), and will spend a number of days on the island of Rhodes as part of the Host Town programme before travelling on to Athens. In Athens, the Irish team will join 7,500 athletes from 185 nations, making the Special Olympics Summer Games the biggest sporting event in the world this summer. The team will return to Ireland the day after competition ends, arriving back on Tuesday, June 5. Messages and good wishes can be sent to Team Ireland by logging on to www.specialolympics.ie/athens.