Warrington Disabled Sports Personality of 2002 - Simonne Cunliffe (From Warrington Guardian)

Warrington Disabled Sports Personality of 2002 - Simonne Cunliffe

9:50am Tuesday 19th September 2006 in Sport By Mike Parsons

SWIMMING all-rounder Simonne Cunliffe capped off a wonderful year in the water by winning eight medals at a national championships.

The 15-year-old's success in the Disability Sport England National Short Course Championships at Sheffield took her 2002 haul to 27 medals and 15 of them were gold placings.

Highlights of the Old Hall swimmer's year included representing the North West and winning four gold medals in four personal best times in the Double Dutch competition Holland.

Great Sankey High School GCSE pupil Simonne reached a milestone while winning eight medals at the BT National Junior Championships in Darlington. She broke the one minute barrier for the first time as she took a gold medal in the 50m backstroke.

Simonne's tough training schedule with Warriors of Warrington, Warrington Swim Club, the North West Disability squad and the Disability Sport England squad obviously paid off as she created two world records among five gold medal wins in the Dwarf National Championships in Birmingham. They came in the 100m individual medley in 2mins 03.57secs and in the 50m freestyle in 48.09secs.

The DSE National Long Course Open Championships in Sheffield attracted competitors at the top of their sport from all over the world and Simonne secured a silver medal in the 100m breaststroke and bronze in the 200m individual medley.