Panathlon History

Eighty-six pupils from 12 schools had an absolute ball as Panathlon held its first ever competition south of The Valleys.

November 2022 was officially Panathlon’s biggest ever month of sporting activity as we staged 142 events in 22 school days across England and Wales.

Great Britain star Michael McCabe tells us he “may never have become a wheelchair racer” if Panathlon hadn’t given him the opportunity to fall in love with sport” at school.

Panathlon joins with multiple partners to serve up tennis sessions for adults with disabilities and special needs at Pocklington Tennis Club in East Yorkshire.

With lockdowns over, Panathlon participation booms in many areas of the country with our pathway of local, county and regional returning. Cumbria is one of many rapid growth areas.

Easing of Covid restrictions enables external competitions to return for the new academic year, running alongside the in-school Virtual programme. A staggering 18,000 pupils enter in the first half-term alone!

Our end-of-year stats show 45,845 SEND pupils from 583 schools accessed sport and physical activity in 2020/21 despite the ravages of Covid-19 – proof of the astounding success of our Virtual programme.

Panathlon re-launches its multi-skills challenges for students to do in their homes and gardens in order to stay active and engaged during Covid-19 lockdowns and school holidays.

Panathlon launches its post-Covid ‘virtual’ in-school competition format, with over 300 schools taking part in its first term

Panathlon keeps breaking its own participation records and March 12th saw us stage NINE competitions on a single day

Panathlon delivers its first National Primary Final for Special Schools at the prestigious Stoke Mandeville Stadium

Panathlon’s impact spread further than ever before in 2018/19 with almost 22,000 young people with disabilities and special needs benefitting from our competitive sport programmes

Panathlon celebrates another landmark moment with the launch of our new competition for Key Stage 3 children, Panathlon Xtend, at the Costello Stadium in Hull

Panathlon’s first ever National Primary Final brought 17 teams from across the country to the Copper Box Arena in London with Great Barr Academy from Birmingham crowned the inaugural winners

GB Paralympians Tanni Grey-Thompson, Liz Johnson and Steve Brown attend our showpiece London Final at the Copper Box Arena and marvel at 200 participants coming together from across the capital

Four early-season Panathlon Primary Finals up and down the country involved 236 students with disabilities and special needs representing their schools in competitive sport

Our first ever Post-16 competition saw 43 young people participate, 36 of whom had never competed in a Panathlon event before

The number of young people with disabilities and SEN taking part in Panathlon events tops 10,000 for the first time in the 2015/16 academic year

Record-breaking numbers for Panathlon once again as we expand our programmes across the country

The London Aquatics Centre, venue for the swimming and diving at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, was equally inspiring for the competitors in Panathlon’s first regional swimming finals

St. James’s Place Charitable Foundation, who have supported Panathlon since 2009, re-commit to Panathlon with a further three years of funding

Panathlon’s 2014 London Multi-Sport Final is our first final to be held at the state-of-the-art Copper Box Arena, venue for the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics

Panathlon’s first ever London Football Cup Final is held at Wembley Stadium Powerleague after a tough pre-qualifying competition

Hannah Olateju is crowned the Outstanding Achiever of 2013 at Panathlon’s annual awards ceremony,  presented by triple-Paralympic medallist Liz Johnson at the Olympic Suite at John Lewis Stratford City

Panathletes from seven English counties compete at Stoke Mandeville Stadium, birthplace of the Paralympic Games, in a special double event

Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, announces that Panathlon will be at the centre of a unique sporting event at the new Olympic Stadium ahead of the summer’s Olympic and Paralympic Games

Proving it delivers much more than freight, the Chelmsford based Woodland Group became the first corporate sponsor of the Panathlon Challenge.

The Mayor of London Boris Johnson, Kate Hoey MP and Jack Petchey CBE attended an awards ceremony in recognition of outstanding individual achievement in Panathlon.

Football Foundation invests in multi-sport Panathlon with the addition of 500 disabled footballers involved, including Learning difficulty, visual impairments and powerchair users.

Panathlon expands to Essex thanks to new investment from the Jack Petchey Foundation with a visit from Danny Crates, recently returned from the Paralympics in Beijing.

Panathlon involve over 1,000 disabled competitors during the year in London and Merseyside -action here from one of our many competitions with partners at Greenbank Sports Academy.

Team Bromley win the first Final ahead of arch rivals Croydon.

Panathlon disability expands to South London, with events staged at Marjorie McClure school in Bromley, with other teams from Croydon, Greenwich and Kent.

Mainstream Panathlon competitions including London, Liverpool, Bristol and Leeds take place with the National Final won by Hackney Free from London held at Crystal Palace National Sports Centre.

Panathlon (Mainstream) Final at Crystal Palace, involving our county winners from London, Liverpool, Bristol and a guest team from Milan in Italy

Hackney Free School wins the London Final for the first time, beating Grey Court School from Richmond, Ashburton School from Croydon and Abbs Cross from Havering.

The first ever Panathlon is held at Featherstone High School in Ealing. Across London there are 32 Schools involved competing in 9 Sports; Athletics, Badminton, Basketball, Chess, Cycling, Football, Netball, Orienteering, and Table Tennis.