From Mexico to Swansea to London – providing transport for the Mexican Para-Athletics squad

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The community transport sector has a history of providing accessible transport for major athletics events, including the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics and the 2014 IPC European Athletics Championships in Swansea.

This year, London recently played host to the 2017 World Para Athletic Championships and community transport was once again a key partner in delivering accessible transport for the event.

Also providing transport to this year’s Para Athletics was DANSA Community Transport, a CTA member based in Wales, who played a pivotal role in providing accessible transport for members of the Mexican Para Athletics Squad.

The Mexican Para Athletics squad had previously trained at Swansea University’s world class training base ahead of the 2012 Paralympic games and had such a good experience of the training facilities and local transport links that they decided to prepare at the base ahead of the Para Athletics Championships, even though London is nearly 200 miles away!

Prior to the Championships, the Community Transport Association were approached by Disability Sport Wales and asked to link the Mexican squad with a community transport provider in the Swansea area who could provide accessible transport for the team and their equipment. DANSA Community Transport, who operate a variety of community transport services across Swansea and Neath Port Talbot, immediately came to mind as they were involved in transporting athletes to the 2012 Paralympics and the 2014 European Athletics Championships.

“DANSA were able to provide transport for the Mexican Para Athletics squad from Swansea University to London’s Olympic Park stadium using one of our accessible minibuses and two of our experienced and fully trained MiDAS qualified drivers,” said Alison Owen, DANSA’s Finance and Development Officer. “Although there were some initial language barriers, the journey was undertaken in great spirit and we wished the Mexican squad all the very best for the Championships and hope to see them again in the not too distant future!’

Well done to everyone at DANSA for their hard work and congratulations to the squad for their nine medals: one gold, four silver and four bronze!