Ealing's Victorious in Tennis, Cycling and..Dominoes

Over 60s success in Better Club Games

A team from Ealing represented the borough when competing against 800 over 60-year-olds at the 2017 Better Club Games; an Olympic-style event for older people that was held at the Copper Box Arena, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park on Friday 10th November 2017.

Whilst coming thirteenth overall the team took podium positions in the Short Tennis, Timed Cycling and the dominoes against 22 other teams.

The annual event was run by the UK’s largest public leisure provider Better, the consumer facing brand of charitable social enterprise GLL.  It was hosted for the fourth time at the former 2012 Olympic venue.  The event aims to encourage older people to become more active and to highlight the social and physical benefits that sporting activities can offer to individuals of all ages.

Participants took part in ten sports including walking football, badminton, short tennis, table tennis, darts, short mat bowls, timed cycle, timed swim, walking football and dominoes.  Proudly representing their boroughs and districts the teams were drawn from across London and the South including: Barnet, Camden, Crystal Palace, Ealing, Epsom and Ewell, Greenwich, Hackney, Hammersmith and Fulham, Hillingdon, Kensington & Chelsea, Islington, Lambeth, Merton, Reigate and Banstead, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Cambridge, Rugby, Sutton, West Oxfordshire, South Oxfordshire & Vale of the White Horse.

The winning Greenwich team retained their 2016 title.

Former Olympic medallist, javelin World Champion and ‘I’m a celebrity…’ star Fatima Whitbread was the guest of honour and officially opened The Games.

Fatima Whitbread said: “Everyone here obviously wants to do well and give it their best, but it’s also about the camaraderie.  It’s a great way of bringing people together and is a nice social activity as well as a sporting one.”

Mark Sesnan, Managing Director at GLL, said: “As GLL is the UK’s leading charitable leisure social enterprise we are proud to run the Better Club Games and to celebrate the benefits that regular physical activity and an active lifestyle can bring to both mental and physical health, whatever your age.”

November 23, 2017