Our triathlon for young people with complex special needs is back and bigger than ever! With a wide range of adapted specialist equipment suitable for people with a wide range of complex learning, communication and physical disabilities, our supported triathlon helps bring families together through sport - and gives young people with the most profound disabilities the opportunity to achieve something amazing!

Athletics has been a great component of Royal College Manchester's programme for several years now, with students regularly training at Woodbank Stadium and, in previous years, completing Sefton Triathlon together. After the Sefton Triathlon disbanded in 2013, College tutor Maureen Wilkins was determined to establish a replacement.

We have run two successful small-scale triathlons, each suitable for people using wheelchairs, MotoMed bikes, adapted bikes and trikes, alongside their supporters and family members. Last year, one young man's parents said that they never dreamed their son, who has very limited motor control, would be able to complete a triathlon - but to cross the finish line alongside his dad and claim a medal made for a very special memory!

Other athletes include young people with sensory impairments or those whose communication needs could not be met in a traditional triathlon, leaving them unsure about what they had to do. Others with severe or profound learning disabilities struggled to follow the prompts to complete each of the three different activities - but through the use of specialist equipment, like a MotoMed arm bike which uses a motor system to prompt cyclists to keep turning the pedals, as well as staff familiar with their needs, young people were able to complete the activity.

Another young woman, whose mother is herself a keen runner, wheeled over the finish line with a huge smile. Her mother commented afterwards that she was thrilled to be able to share her love of sports with her daughter.

This year's triathlon will take place on 16th July at our Stanley Road campus. Please sign up here or contact Maureen Wilkins on maureen.wilkins@seashelltrust.org.uk if you have any questions.

As was the case last year, the event will also include a children's duathlon, suitable for all children ages 8 and up.