Two Paralympians fly Meath flag in London

Two more Meath Olympians will carry the hopes of the county and the nation when they compete in the Paralympics in London over the next few weeks. Ratoath's James Scully will compete in the 50m backstroke, 50m, 100m and 200m freestyle swimming events, while Cushinstown AC member and Ashbourne Community School student Heather Jameson will compete in the 100m, 200m and long jump. At 15, she is the youngest member of the Irish team. Nineteen year-old James is a second year politics student at NUI Maynooth and has been swimming competitively since 2005 and reached international swimming level in 2009. He is a son of Mick and Angela Scully from Meadowbank Hill in Ratoath. Currently ranked fifth in the world, he is hopeful of a good result in London. In the run-up to the Paralympics, he has been training for 20 hours a week. James combines twenty hours swim training a week with life as a full-time politics student at NUI Maynooth. His first event will be the 50m freestyle heats on Thursday 30th August at the Aquatics Centre in London, with the final taking place later that evening. He competes in the 200m freestyle heats on Saturday 1st September and the final in that event also takes place that day. The 50m backstroke heats are on Thursday 6th September, as are the finals, while the 100m freestyle heats and finals are on 8th September. While most girls her age are getting ready to go back to school, 15 year-old Garristown native, Heather Jameson, is looking forward to representing her country at the 2012 Paralympic Games, beginning with the opening ceremony next week. A third year student at Ashbourne Community College, Heather is a member of Cushinstown AC and continues the fine tradition the club has of having club members represent their country at the ultimate sporting event. Previous club members to have competed in the Olympics include Lisa Callaghan (Sydney 2000, Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 Paralympics) and Sean Cahill (Atlanta 1996 Olympics). Indeed, it was Lisa who first introduced Heather to the Paralympics and has acted as her inspiration. Heather has also been training hard for the upcoming Games and this year she has competed at events in Gateshead, Chelmsford, Turin and an Olympic test event in the London Olympic Stadium. Her first event is the long jump, which takes place on Friday 31st August in the Olympic Stadium. The 100m heats and final take place on Sunday 2nd September while the 200m heats and final are on Wednesday 5th September.